Frozen
by agent.girlsname
Summary: 1976, New York City. Blaine Anderson volunteers to take part in a scientific experiment to make some money so he can make it as a musician in the big city. He's only meant to be frozen for two weeks... 2012, New York City. Blaine is unfrozen and has to deal with the fact he has been frozen for thirty six years. Thankfully lab assistant Kurt Hummel is there to help him...(7/12)
1. Chapter 1

_1976, New York City_. Blaine Anderson volunteers to take part in a scientific experiment to make some money so he can make it as a musician in the big city.

He's only meant to be frozen for two weeks...

_2012, New York City_. Blaine is unfrozen and has to deal with the fact he has been frozen for thirty six years. Thankfully lab assistant Kurt Hummel is there to help him...

'Ok Mr. Anderson, are you sure you understand everything? This is a very big decision to make.'

Blaine tapped his foot nervously against the metal leg of his chair, his eyes flicked between the sheet of paper on the desk waiting for his signature and the man in a suit sitting opposite him, looking at Blaine expectantly.

All Blaine needed to do was sign on the thin black line at the bottom of the page and that would be it; he would take part in their little experiment and get enough money to set him up for a whole year. He'd be able to afford a proper apartment, a better guitar and living expenses. He would be able to write and record his own songs and actually make it as a singer in New York City.

But the money wasn't being offered for free. A friend had told him about a great opportunity to make a lot of money fast. Scientists were making a lot of breakthroughs, discovering new things every day, and they always needed people to test things on. Blaine had been sceptical at first but as he had lain on the damp ridden mattress in the cheap hotel that served (and failed to serve) as his "home", he had wondered if it could really work.

And now here he was, sitting at an expensive looking mahogany desk, after a full day of people in white coats running every test imaginable on him, ready to sign the paper. With just one signature he would be consenting to being frozen for two weeks. He would go into the lab, be put to sleep and when he woke up it would be two weeks later, it was simple.

So why was Blaine finding it so hard to sign the paper? He was beginning to freak out about the idea of being frozen. The scientists had explained that he wouldn't die; his body would be in a dormant state at below freezing temperatures. But Blaine felt uneasy about that, he wouldn't exactly be alive either.

He shook his head, he could do it, it would be worth it to finally defy his father and sow him that there was more to Blaine than someone to take over his company.

'I'm sure.' He nodded.

Blaine picked up the pen with a steady determination and signed the paper, he would show his father he had what it takes to make it, that Blaine was meant for greater things than to sit behind a desk for the rest of his life. He dated the signature:

_29__th__ July 1976_.

'Thank you Mr. Anderson. Now if you'll follow Mr. Peters here he'll take you to the lab and we can get started. See you in two weeks' He smiled at Blaine, his thin lips spreading across his face and immediately reminding Blaine of a snake.

Blaine nodded and stood up, the chair scraping against the tiled flooring, and followed the young lab assistant he had met earlier.

As he was led in to the laboratory, changed into a pale green gown and laid on the cold metal table he began to feel nervous once more. A nurse stuck a drip in the back of his hand and smiled at him reassuringly as she injected a small vial of liquid into the back of it.

Blaine felt the drug entering his body quickly, dragging him down into a deep, deep sleep as he listened to the machines beeping and the lab assistants chattering.

There was nothing strange happening but as Blaine felt the last tendrils of his consciousness slipping away something was said, something Blaine couldn't quite make sense of in the haze of his mind, but the last thing he felt before he fell asleep was a feeling of dread.

**XxXxX**

Bright lights seemed to pierce Blaine's vision and he tried to jerk his head away. Machines beeped around him and he could hear the gentle murmuring of the people working in the lab. He lay there for a while and listened; everything sounded much the same as it did when he fell asleep.

He briefly wondered if something had gone wrong, if he hadn't actually been asleep for long and was waking up too soon.

'The patient appears to be waking up, Mr Hummel keep a note of his heart rate please.' A voice to the left of him said. The voice was calm and authoritative, but not one that Blaine recognized.

'Yes Dr. Montgomery.' A voice to his right said. This voice was lighter, sounding sweet to Blaine's ears. He turned his head towards the sound.

'Hello? Sir can you hear me?'

Blaine tried to open his eyes, wanting to wake up now and find out how the procedure had gone, if everything was alright.

'Doctor did you see that? His eyelids fluttered, I think he can hear me.'

'That's good Kurt, keep talking to him.'

Blaine's eyelids were heavy and it took most of his strength to open one a tiny bit.

A figure came into view, blurred and distorted at first, but after a few seconds he could make it out. A young man was leaning over the bed so he was eye level with Blaine, searching Blaine's face for a moment before glancing back to the machine beeping by Blaine's bed.

'That's it, you're doing good.' Kurt smiled at him. Blaine took in the young man's pale skin, his pale blue eyes and the way the corner of his mouth crinkled as he smiled. He put more effort into opening his eyes; he wanted to see more of that smile.

It was exhausting but finally Blaine had both eyes open, staring at the young man standing next to his bed, clipboard in hand.

'There you are, welcome back.' The man smiled at him.

'How is he doing Kurt?' The Doctor walked back over to the bed and looked at what Kurt had been writing on the clipboard before looking down at Blaine. 'Hello Sir, my name is Doctor Wes Montgomery. Now, you're going to feel very groggy for a while but it'll wear off. I'm going to leave you in the capable hands of Mr. Hummel here.'

Blaine blinked at him and soon he was left alone with the young man he assumed was called Kurt.

Kurt smiled at him again, writing some more notes down on his clipboard. Blaine's mind was hazy and he couldn't think very clearly, but he knew he liked Kurt's smile, it was kind and made him feel calm.

'You're keeping your eyes open quite well now; do you want to try wriggling your fingers?' Kurt asked him after a few minutes had passed. It took him a while, his body was apparently very slow on receiving the messages Blaine was sending it, but eventually he was able to jerk his fingers. It was almost worth the effort to see Kurt's eyes light up with excitement.

'Well done, you're doing much better than the two we woke up yesterday, it took them hours to get this far.' Kurt scribbled something down, humming quietly to himself, seemingly unaware of Blaine watching him closely.

Within two hours Blaine was sitting up in the bed, glancing around the room with interest. It looked more like a hospital room than the lab he had been put to sleep in. It was quite big with a large window to the right of him. Sunlight was trying to seep in but the blinds covering it blocked it out.

A machine next to him beeped, recording his heart rate and other vitals, Kurt had explained. When Blaine had finally managed to tear his eyes away from Kurt he found he couldn't stop staring at the monitor.

It looked a lot thinner than the one he had been attached to when he was in the lab, as thin as a large notepad, Blaine thought. The monitor he had seen right before he had been injected had been bulky and grey, green, fuzzy letters on a black screen. The screens numbers and images looked crisper, sharper and in more detail than they had before.

'Don't worry, all that information didn't mean a lot to me either when I first started either.' Kurt said, misinterpreting Blaine's interest and sitting down on a chair next to his bed. 'Doctor Montgomery is on his way back in a moment. We're going to ask you a few questions ok?'

'Sure.' Blaine said, his voice was still a little raspy but Kurt had given him some ice chips. Apparently they didn't want to shock his body by giving him a glass of water.

Kurt placed the clipboard at the end of Blaine's bed, picking up from his pocket a small black square. He started jabbing at it with his finger until Dr. Montgomery came back into the room.

'Welcome back.' The Doctor said, sitting down in a chair on the opposite side of the bed to Kurt and looked over his notes. 'Now then, I'm going to ask you a few questions and Mr. Hummel here is going to write down the answers ok?'

Blaine nodded.

'Can you tell me your name?'

'Blaine Anderson.' Kurt jabbed his finger at the small black thing he was holding and Blaine frowned, wasn't he supposed to be writing this down?

'And do you know what is happening at the moment?'

'Um, I'm waking up from being frozen?' Blaine somehow felt as though this was somehow a trick question.

'Do you remember why you were frozen?'

'I volunteered to take part in an experiment for some money.' They weren't trying to get out of paying him were they? He needed that money.

'And what was the date you were frozen?' The Doctor asked. Blaine hesitated slightly as he felt tension arise in the room.

'The twenty ninth of July.'

'Which year?' Doctor Montgomery looked at Blaine over the rims of his glasses.

'Nineteen seventy six.'

'And how long were you meant to be frozen for? Do you remember?'

Blaine paused for a moment, 'meant to be'? The Doctor's tone made him feel uneasy. What did he mean by that? 'Just two weeks.'

The Doctor gave a pointed look to Kurt and Blaine followed his gaze. He caught Kurt's eye for a brief second before the young man looked away. For a second he had seen something akin to pity in Kurt's eyes and Blaine felt his stomach clench. Something was going on and he was sure he wouldn't like it.

'Ok Mr. Anderson-'

'Blaine.' He interjected. People called him Mr. Anderson when he was at his dad's company, dressed in a confining suit and pretending to be someone he was not, he didn't like the moniker.

'Blaine, I have something to tell you, something you will not like, but I promise you that we will look after you ok?'

Blaine nodded wearily; he heart began to pound in his chest, the beeping of the monitor speeding up with it, announcing his fear to the whole room.

'Blaine, the year is two thousand and twelve; you've been frozen for thirty six years.'

Blaine felt as though someone had punched him in the gut, all the air suddenly sucked from his lungs.

_Thirty six years._

'That can't be right.' He insisted, his first instinct was to head towards denial and he too it. 'I was only meant to be frozen for two weeks, they were trying out a new system and needed results fast, they couldn't leave me for thirty six years.'

_Thirty six years!_

'Blaine, this company took over the lab six months ago and we don't know what has happened, but we promise we're going to look after you.' The Doctor laid a hand on Blaine's shoulder reassuringly, but Blaine could hardly feel it.

'I need to be alone.' Blaine whispered, staring at his hands gripping the blanket that was covering him.

The Doctor and his assistant left the room, closing the door behind them.

'Thirty six years.' Blaine chocked out. How had he been frozen for thirty six years? They had promised him it would only be two weeks, that two weeks was all they had needed. How had things gone so wrong that he had been left for thirty six years?

Had they forgotten about him? Or lied to him? Had that been their plan all along; to lure people into their lab and to freeze them for years and years?

Tears ran down his cheeks before he even realised he was crying and but strangely he felt numb, as if it were all too much for him to take in.

What had happened to his family? Did they even know what had happened to him? He hadn't told them what he was doing; he didn't want them to know he needed to be experimented upon in order to make money to achieve his dream.

Soon the gravity of the situation caught up with him and he didn't hold back the sobs that racked his body.

**XxXxXxX**

Kurt sat at his desk set off to one side of the lab, watching Blaine on his computer screen feeding from the camera in his room.

He had taken the intern job in the lab to earn money during the summer, needing more money than the usually shops or coffee bars had been able to pay him over the last few years as he made his way through college.

On his first day the man showing him around the lab had explained to him its situation. The company had just taken over the lab six months before. It covered a lot of different areas but Kurt was to be situated in the cryogenics lab to help out with the doctors and lab assistants.

When the lab had been taken over everything seemed fine, but two weeks into Kurt's internship they had discovered another lab hidden away. Inside were seven people, frozen in time in their individual capsules.

There were no notes to accompany any of them. No names or dates or stats, just their physical bodies.

Doctor Montgomery was a young doctor, but thanks to the influence his father had over the company he had been put in charge of the cryogenics lab. It had been his decision to wake the individuals up, deciding it was the only way to get the information they needed.

So far they had unfrozen two other men and one woman. One of the men and the woman had been frozen in the late nineties, they hadn't even known they were going to be frozen at all, but they seemed to be adjusting to 2012 quite well.

The other man had been a volunteer like Blaine from the early nineties, he was shocked at first but seemed to deal with it quite well when he had learned they had made all his favourite comic books into films.

But Blaine seemed to have come the furthest so far. Thirty six years was a long time and Kurt could understand the young man's distress.

He stroked a finger over Blaine's image on his computer screen. He looked so scared and hopeless, curled up on the bed with his arms wrapped around his knees as he sobbed. Kurt couldn't imagine how he would feel in Blaine's situation. He seemed so normal, how did he end up being frozen for thirty six years when it was only meant to be for two?


	2. Chapter 2

_**This chapter is unbeta'd, please ignore any mistakes!**_

It was dark when Blaine woke up. The blinds were still closed but he could no longer see the sunlight trying to seep through the edges. The people who had been scurrying back and forth along the corridors like scurrying ants had disappeared and everywhere was quiet.

He sat up on the bed, his muscles stiff and aching from the awkward position he'd been laying in all night. He figured he must have eventually cried himself to sleep, eyes screwed shut trying to block out the fear and confusion crowding him, desperately hoping that he would open his eyes and find himself on the table in the lab in 1976 after only two weeks of being frozen and that this was all a horrible dream.

There wasn't much to look at in the room. The monitor beside the bed had been switched off at some point and there was a small chair by his bed next to a small bedside table.

Blaine swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood up carefully, surprised to find his legs responding. He had almost expected his muscles to have been wasted away after thirty six years but everything about him was exactly the same. His hairs, his nails, even the stubble on his jaw were all exactly the same as when he had been put to sleep.

He had truly been frozen in time.

Blaine headed towards the door, his steps a little shaky and unbalanced at first, his fingers closing around the cold metal handle. He paused.

In this room there wasn't anything too different from his own time. The monitor was different and the chair seemed to be more leather and wood than he would have expected in a hospital room but there was nothing glaringly 'futuristic' about any of it.

But what about out there? If he opened the door what would he find and just how far had the human race advanced? Would the staffing team be made up of robots and all the equipment be able to run itself?

As long as he was in this room he felt a little safer. Nothing in here was scary or completely unrecognizable to him. He could handle this.

He took a deep breath and tightened his grip on the handle. He had defied his father and moved to the city to make it as a musician; he was brave. He could do this.

Blaine turned the handle and slowly opened the door, just a crack, so he could see what was outside.

The corridor looked ordinary, there were no robots anyway, and mainly empty. Now that the door was open Blaine could hear some voices murmuring at the end of the corridor. He took another deep breath and stepped out of his room.

Curiosity triumphed over fear has he headed towards the voices but still he kept close to the wall, his fingers skimming over the cold plaster.

Now that he was closer he could overhear what they were saying.

'I think you're being ridiculous.' A high, female voice with a New Jersey twang was saying.

'Think about it, they're all locked away, the door was plastered over and all the electronics controlled remotely, obviously whoever put them all there didn't want them to be found!' Another female voice responded, this one a bit lower, boarded with what Blaine would only describe as sass.

'But a conspiracy Nina? I mean really? Who would do that?'

'I don't know Mellissa, but what other explanation is there? They can't have been left there by accident. I think they were all involved in something, or someone wanted them out of the way but didn't have the balls to kill them.'

Blaine felt his stomach drop suddenly, as if he had missed a step in the dark. They were talking about him, he knew it. But they were saying it had been done on purpose, that he had been involved in something and deserved it somehow. Blaine shook his head, he hadn't done anything, he had volunteered to help out with an experiment, that was all.

'But they're just normal people, it's not like they're high up government officials or anything.'

'Well even normal people can have an impact on the world when they go missing. You don't know what changed because they vanished. One man getting shot caused the entire world to go to war, I tell you, and it only takes one small stone to start an avalanche.'

'So what was the avalanche huh? What massive world event was caused by these people vanishing?'

There was a long pause in the conversation, silence echoing throughout the corridor and Blaine was suddenly terrified they would hear his heart thumping in his chest.

'Well I haven't thought that far yet.' Nina admitted.

The other girl laughed. 'You're so full of crap. Come on coffee breaks over, let's get the rest of the night shift out of the way, Doctor Montgomery wants those files organized so the day staff can get these people relocated.'

Blaine slumped against the wall, his head spinning as he listened to them walking away from where he hid.

Conspiracies? How could that be? What in the world could have changed because he had gone missing?

He stepped out from the corridor to where he had heard the girls gossiping. There were a few comfortable chairs dotted around and a coffee machine in the corner. It looked different to Blaine was still recognizable. On the opposite wall there was a large viewing window into the lab he had been taken into and he knew the large wooden door to the left would lead to the office where he had signed the paper.

He was still in the lab, not in a hospital room as he had assumed for some reason. Still surrounded by scientists and assistants, chemicals and beakers, long words and scientific jargon that made no sense to him.

Coming to the lab the first time had made him feel so far from home, and now he knew there was no going back it felt even further.

He wanted to go back. To run away from the city he had dreamed of escaping to, back to his parent's house in Ohio, back to his over protective mother and stern father. He was even willing to return to work at his father's company if I meant being taken away from this scary new world.

'Blaine?'

Blaine jumped with fright as someone tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around and came face to face with the Doctor who had woke him up earlier.

'Doctor Montgomery, hi.' Blaine said, suddenly feeling like a child that had been caught out of bed. 'I couldn't sleep.'

'Well you've been asleep for a very long time Blaine; I don't blame you for wanting to stretch your legs. How are you feeling now?'

Blaine blushed a little as he remembered his behaviour that evening. The doctors and assistants had tried talking to him and run some tests but Blaine had screamed at them, yelling at them to leave him alone. He had behaved like a child.

'I'm a bit better now.' He lied. He had calmed down sure, but a large part of him still wanted to scream and punch things, as if that would make everything all better.

The Doctor cocked his head and looked at Blaine. 'No you're not.' He said, as if reading Blaine's mind. 'But that's ok. You've come a long way and it must all be terrifying.'

Blaine sighed and nodded.

'We're going to help you Blaine.' The doctor promised, laying a hand on Blaine's arm reassuringly. 'You're not on your own.'

Blaine opened his mouth, wanting to ask the doctor about what he had just overheard, to find out if there was any chance that it was all true and that he had been left frozen for so many years on purpose. But he stopped himself before he could ask. How did he know he could trust this doctor? If he was in charge here then there was a chance that he could be involved as well and Blaine was scared that if he started to ask questions he could be 'taken care of' again.

Blaine felt tired all of a sudden, the enormity of the situation threatening to overwhelm him once more.

'Come on; let's get you back to bed.' Doctor Montgomery said.

**XxXxXxX**

The blinds were open the next time Blaine woke up, sunlight streaming through the glass. The window had been cracked open slightly and Blaine could hear the sound of birds and traffic from outside.

He hadn't slept well when he had returned to bed, tossing and turning for most of the night, and his head throbbed from the lack of sleep.

'Morning!' A voice to his side called brightly. Blaine turned his head and saw the lab assistant who had been helping the doctor yesterday sitting in the chair by his bed.

'Uh morning.' Blaine replied. 'How long have you been sitting there?'

'Oh just two minutes or so, I've just gotten in, I wanted to see how you were this morning but you were asleep still so I thought I'd wait.' Kurt grinned at him, tapping his feet on the floor and looking more alert than anyone should in the mornings.

'Are you always this awake in the mornings?' Blaine grumbled, the last remains of sleep still fogging his mind.

'I've had a lot of coffee this morning.' Kurt replied, nodding enthusiastically. 'A bit too much actually but its good, it's good, I'll get a lot of work done!'

Blaine stared at him. 'Uh, ok.'

Kurt stopped tapping and looked at Blaine. 'I'm sorry, I didn't sleep well last night, I kept thinking about you.' He blushed and added. 'About what's happened to you I mean. I can't imagine how you must be feeling.'

'Yeah, it's a mindful.'

'You're going to see a lot of doctors today, they're going to run some tests but if you're as fit as all the other patients seem to be you'll be able to get out of here today.'

Blaine felt fear prickling at the back of his neck, where was he meant to go?

'I'll be looking after you.' Kurt assured him quickly, Blaine wondered if his terror had shown on his face. 'The facility is providing you with an apartment and living expenses for a while, you know, until you're able to support yourself.'

'Wow, I didn't think I'd get out of here so soon.' Blaine admitted. He hadn't thought about leaving at all, at least not in this time. He wasn't sure what to expect out in the city that had been growing for thirty six years.

'No one can think of any reason why you all need to stay.' Kurt shrugged. 'I think this whole adventure has taken up enough of your life, it's time to get you back into the world.'

**XxXxXx**

The day was long and frustrating. Blaine had to endure test after test and answer a multitude of questions while his own went unanswered. Every time he asked what the world was like or if Elvis was still releasing hits they just smiled at him and shook their heads, saying there would be time for all that later.

It was late afternoon and after a long, long talk with a psychiatrist they declared that he would be ok to leave. He was given new clothes to wear and he was relieved to finally change out of the gown he had been dressed in when he first entered the lab to be put to sleep.

'Now we'll need you to come back for some more tests soon but other than that I'll leave you in the capable hands of Mr. Hummel here.' Doctor Montgomery smiled at him.

Kurt stood next to the doctor, looking as eager and alert as he had that morning, only now his hair was drooping out from its styling and a the top button on his shirt had been unbuttoned. Blaine found himself staring at the small sliver of Kurt's chest that was being presented, snapping his eyes away as soon as he realised what he was doing.

'You've got a fully furnished apartment a few blocks away, I've been rushing around all day spending on the facilities cash card.' Kurt grinned at him as the doctor said his goodbyes to the pair of them and left. 'I've made sure there's plenty of food and some clothes there for you, as well as toiletries and anything else you might need.'

'That's very thoughtful of you.' Blaine smiled.

'It's my job.' Kurt shrugged and ducked his head. 'Are you ready to go?'

No, Blaine was not ready to go; he was terrified and wanted to stay in these rooms, as stifling as they were where his experience of this new modern world was limited.

But he was curious to see what the world was like now, what things had changed and, as ever, his curiosity won in the end.

'Sure.' He said, sounding not sure at all.

Kurt led him through the labs and into the elevator. As they waited Blaine remembered stepping out of the elevator and into the lab for the first time, less than seventy two hours ago to him.

The elevator they stepped into wasn't the same one Blaine had used. It was newer and quieter, the sides made up of mirrors so he could see himself and Kurt reflected back infinitely. So much different to the dingy space that had carried him up there thirty six years ago.

Blaine could feel his heart thumping in his chest as they stepped out into the reception area. People were bustling about, doing their work and not even sparing the two of them a second glance. Blaine supposed he must look the same still even if he felt so out of place.

He looked about the busy area, trying to take everything in at once. Men still dressed in suits, mostly black, blue or gray, and most of the woman did too. But the cut of the clothes were different, the design of the dresses the women wore and the hairstyles.

Even Kurt's outfit, skin hugging jeans and a simple shirt accompanied by some sort of scarf around his neck, wasn't that dissimilar.

Everything was different, yet familiar. The cuts and patterns had changed, skirt lengths had grown but ultimately they were still dresses and suits. Fashion hadn't changed that much. At least they weren't all wearing silver jumpsuits.

Blaine felt himself calm down a bit. He wondered if he had allowed himself to be influence by too many science fiction films with his ideas about the future he had found himself in. Most of the films showing the future had depicted aliens taken over, monsters or dystopias. But everything here still seemed normal enough to him.

There were no robots at least.

'Are you ok?'

Blaine snapped out of his thoughts. He must have been standing in the reception area staring at the people for a few minutes now and Kurt was watching him.

'Yeah.' Blaine nodded.

'It's different right?' Kurt laid a hand on his shoulder, offering him support.

'Yeah, but I kind of expected it to be more different, like the films you know? Everyone walking around in silver jumpsuits and everything.'

Kurt eyes widened. 'That would be horrible.'

'Really?'

'Fashion is a chance for expression! If everyone's wearing the same thing how can you express yourself?' He exclaimed. Blaine laughed, watching Kurt incredulously.

He had never met anyone like Kurt before. In his close circle of friends he knew a few people who had admitted they were homosexual but they were discreet, keeping it behind closed doors so their parents didn't find out. But Kurt seemed to embrace that side of himself and didn't seem to care who took notice.

Blaine stopped his train of thought as he realised he was making an assumption. He didn't know that much about the man but he was labelling his sexuality based on personality traits that may have been indicators in his time, but who knew how they would be perceived in this time? Maybe it was more common for men to act a little more flamboyant without meaning they were homosexual.

Or maybe, Blaine's heart leapt at the thought, maybe homosexuality was more accepted these days, maybe he would finally be able to be himself.

'Sorry.' Kurt smiled at him. 'I'm studying fashion at college and that would probably be my worst nightmare.' He led Blaine the rest of the way across the reception area and to the front doors. Blaine could already see the people bustling about outside, it looked so crowded! He moved closer to Kurt and almost instantly the man put his hand on Blaine's arm for support.

'Its fine, we'll jump in a cab and go straight to your apartment so you can settle in, we can deal with the city later.'

With Kurt's hand on his arm Blaine felt more secure as they stepped out into the street and over to the road.

In the short time it took for a cab to arrive at Kurt's raised arm Blaine looked around. The buildings around him looked the same, some of brickwork had deteriorated and the front facades had been changed but the general shape of it was as he remembered. The intimate little cafe he had visited before entering the lab had been replaced by a shop that displayed women's lingerie in the window and the shop next door to that was boarded up. This no longer looked like the nice neighbourhood it had once been.

There was however a lot more people. It had been crowded when Blaine had first arrived in the city but now the sidewalk was heaving. People in suits, people in jeans, short skirts, dresses, hats, shaved heads, young, old, there were people everywhere. And cars too, the roads were packed with a multitude of different colours and shapes, all dazzling in the sun.

He sighed with relief as he got in the cab, sliding in after Kurt, glad to get out of the bustle. He couldn't help but look out of the window as they drove along. The buildings were taller than he remembered, stretching up towards the sky higher and higher as they drove on.

He pressed his head against the glass, peering up towards the sky, searching.

'What are you looking at?' Kurt asked, peering at Blaine curiously.

Blaine drew back from the window and blushed. 'Uh, hovercars.' He said sheepishly.

Kurt giggled, covering his mouth with his hand before looking at Blaine fondly. 'Oh unfortunately not. The future isn't as exciting as sci-fi made it out to be I'm afraid. There's nothing too exciting.' He pulled out the black square Blaine had seen him tapping on the day before and started to jab it with his finger once more.

'What is that?' Blaine frowned, leaning over into Kurt's space to have a look.

'Oh it's my computer.' Kurt said, holding it out for Blaine to see.

'That's a computer?' Blaine said incredulously, taking the object from Kurt. It was thin and light, the photo on the screen was crisp and clear. He had seen a computer, his Dad had one in his office, but it had been big and bulky, the screen showing green fuzzy numbers on a black back ground.

'Yeah, it's called an iPad, I was just setting a reminder.'

Blaine tapped his finger lightly on a small button that looked like a sunflower and yelped as hundreds of smaller icons flooded the screen.

'Oh sorry, I don't know what I did.' He thrust the iPad back to Kurt. 'Don't laugh!' He said indignity as Kurt tried to hide his chuckling behind his hand.

'It's ok; you just opened up the photo album. Thankfully it's the works computer so there's nothing embarrassing on there.'

'It has a camera?'

'Uh huh.'

Blaine stared at him. 'You have a computer that's as thin as a notebook you can carry around with you that doesn't have any buttons and it can take pictures.' He paused for a second. 'And you say there's nothing interesting in the future!'

Kurt nodded, looking thoughtful.

'I suppose I'm used to it.' He shrugged.

**XxXxXx**

'The shower's in here, you just turn that handle to turn the water on, then that one to make it hotter or colder. There's shampoo and stuff in there. Shaving cream is in the cabinet and there's a razor just in here.'

Blaine nodded, tracing a finger over a tube of toothpaste sitting in a cup to the side of the sink. He recognized the brand name but the packaging was all different, newer, brighter colours leaping out at him.

'And through here is the kitchen.'

Blaine followed Kurt out of the bathroom. The apartment was nice, it was small and modest, the exactly the kind of apartment Blaine planned on buying when he got the money from the experiment.

The walls were painted in cool colours, light greens, blues and creams and the floors were all tiles or neat wooden strips. It was a far cry from the busy patterns his Mom had decorated their own house in. He found it quite plain.

'Uh, you have the oven there, just press the buttons and it come on, it's electric. There's a microwave and a toaster. The coffee maker is pretty straightforward too. I don't think you'll have any problems with anything in here. They don't seem to have invented anything miraculous for the kitchen in a while.' Kurt smiled at him.

Blaine inspected the microwave, pressing a couple of buttons and watching the light inside come on. Like everything else in the apartment so far it was a lot sleeker and white, but it seemed easy enough to use.

'Yeah I think I can handle that.' Blaine said, turning around and effectively trapping himself and Kurt in the small corner between the counter top and the breakfast bar. Their bodies were pressed up against each other and Blaine could feel the warmth radiating off of the young assistant. His heart began to pound and his mouth went dry. He always tried to ignore his attraction to other men, he knew his father would never allow it, but standing there, so close to Kurt he could smell the man's aftershave, it was impossible to ignore.

They stared at each other for a few moments, something between them sparking as their eyes met.

Kurt blushed and slid away from the counter, heading over towards the fridge, opening the door and waving a hand at the food stocked up inside.

'Uh, this is the refrigerator; it keeps things cold... like it always has you know that.' He rambled. 'Um, let me show you the TV, that's going to be a lot different.'

He walked into the living room and Blaine followed a little sadly. Whatever had sparked between them in that moment had gone. Not vanished, just returned to wherever it had come from in the first place.

'Uh, do you have a record player?' Blaine asked as he entered the room, his eyes searching for stack of records and the record player that would certainly be there somewhere. No one could furnish an apartment and not include a record player. To Blaine that was inconceivable.

Kurt chuckled and pulled a small, flat, grey object from his pocket, holding it out to Blaine in the palm of his hand.

'Here's my record player.' He grinned, his eyes lighting up excitedly, as if he finally had something impressive to show Blaine. 'Blaine Anderson let me introduce you to the world of modern music.'

Comments are love 3

_**A/N: The next few chapters are going to be dealing with Blaine finding out about modern technology, how society has changed etc, I just felt as if he had enough to deal with in this one already.**_


	3. Chapter 3

'Why on earth is that woman wearing a dress made of meat?' Blaine frowned as he flicked through the channels, pausing his search as he came across the spectacle.

Kurt laughed as he walked back into the room from the kitchen, setting down the large glasses of Coke on the table, the ice cubes tinkling against the glass as he did so.

'That's Lady Gaga, she can be a bit eccentric but her music is amazing!' He said, sitting back down next to Blaine on the small couch.

Blaine studied Kurt's face for a moment, taking in the expression on his face and the way his eyes lit up as they always seemed to when he began to talk about something he loved.

Kurt had spent the last half an hour explaining the different gadgets in the living room. Unlike the kitchen everything in here seemed to have changed. The record player was now a tiny little thing that Kurt slotted in to a set of small speakers. The sound came through crisp and clear, supposedly an improvement, but Blaine missed the scratching of the needle on vinyl.

The television was huge compared to the boxy one his parents had. The screen was flat and the picture on it was almost perfect, something that Kurt had called 'high definition'. And there were so many channels to look through.

'Have you found anything you like yet?'

'No yet, there are a lot of channels.' Blaine smiled, pressing the remote again just as another image of the eccentric singer flashed on to the screen, making him wonder for the sanity of someone who wore a telephone on their head.

'Well this is only basic cable. You could get a lot more.' Kurt said.

'There's more?' Blaine exclaimed. 'Seriously? Why on earth do you need this many channels? There are hundreds!'

'And yet there's never anything good on.' Kurt sighed, Blaine couldn't tell if he was joking or not. 'At least you've got the hang of the remote now.'

Blaine laughed, he had managed to get the TV stuck in a different language almost as soon as Kurt had handed him the remote. And as soon as Kurt had fixed it Blaine then managed to somehow turn the whole screen grey.

'I think you need a degree in electronics to work this out.' Blaine said, waving the remote in front of him. There were so many buttons on the thing, each one capable of doing almost anything to the picture on the screen.

'Honestly, you should just be happy with having so many channels, why do you need to worry if the picture is a few inches wider or how clear the image is?'

'People are never satisfied. They're working towards making TV 3D now.' Kurt shrugged.

Blaine's eyebrows shot to his forehead and he was about to respond when he landed on another music channel, this time with a group of men dancing in their underpants with large smiley faces over their crotches.

'Uh...'

'Oh I like this song.' Kurt said, his face lighting up once more as he paid attention to the screen.

Blaine watched for a few moments, trying to decipher what was going on.

'Wiggle wiggle wiggle? Is this music?'

'I didn't say it was a great master piece of our time.' Kurt laughed. 'I just think it's catchy!'

'If you say so.' Blaine changed the channel once more. 'Who's this?'

A woman with short blonde hair was singing on stage to a large crowd.

'Oh that's Pink. She's very good.'

Blaine set the remote beside him for a moment to watch the singer perform.

_So raise your glass if you are wrong, in all the right ways-_

'This seems pretty hip.'

Kurt raised one eyebrow at him. 'Sure, it's 'hip'.' He smiled. 'You can really 'get down' to Pink.'

Blaine smiled at the gentle teasing.

'What, people don't say hip anymore?' He said, making Kurt laugh.

They watched a few more of Pink's live performances before Blaine changed the channel again, eager to discover more new music.

He discovered he quite liked a singer called Katy Perry who liked to kiss girls and found out that Kurt was right about Lady Gaga, her dress sense may be crazy but she had some amazing songs. They watched the music videos of groups called The Black Eyed Peas, Florence and the Machine, Maroon Five and a woman called Britney.

'Wow, music has changed a lot.' Blaine said, turning the TV off and bringing his knees up to his chest and wrapping his arms around them, as if somehow he could protect himself from this strange new world. All of a sudden he was feeling overwhelmed again, his joy of finding new music taken over once more by the fact that everything had changed.

Kurt bit his lip, sensing the sudden change in mood. 'Uh huh. But we can listen to some music from your time if you want.'

Blaine nodded; he needed to feel a little bit of home right now.

'Do you have any records then?'

Kurt laughed. 'No silly! We'll YouTube it.' He pulled the black square thing he had called the iPad out of his bag and began to press icons and letters on the screen.

'Ok, how about this? It's a 1970's playlist some guy made.'

Blaine nodded, leaning over towards Kurt to see the screen and doing his best to ignore the inviting warmth radiating off of him.

The crushing feeling left him as suddenly as it had arrived as he recognized what was playing.

'Hey, I went to that performance.' He said, unwrapping his arms from his legs and shifting so he was sitting right next to Kurt, their sides pressed up against each other.

'Brain Ferry, Cleveland Ohio, 1975.' Kurt read.

'Yeah, my friends and I met him by the stage door afterwards, I high fived him, it was amazing!'

Blaine stared at the screen, transfixed by the video of something he had experienced less than a year ago. He didn't even notice Kurt was watching him.

The performance ended and the playlist moved on to the next song.

'Elvis!' Blaine bounced on the sofa with excitement. 'He's my favourite; I really wish I had seen him perform live.' He began to sing along to 'You don't have to say you love me' swaying a little and bumping shoulders with Kurt.

'I wouldn't have put you down for an Elvis fan.' Kurt smiled at Blaine's enthusiasm. 'I guess I always thought Elvis was more sixties.'

'But I grew up in the sixties; I grew up with the King. When I got my guitar his songs were the first ones I wanted to learn.'

'You play the guitar?'

'Yeah, my friends and I used to camp out over the weekend, we'd sit around the campfire, I'd get out my guitar and play some songs for them; Elvis, Bryan Ferry, I even took some Blondie songs and made them more acoustic.'

Kurt watched Blaine's face light up as he spoke. He hadn't seen Blaine look this happy since he met him and the way excitement filled his eyes and a smile spread across his lips made Kurt want to smile too.

'It was during those nights I knew I wanted to become a musician.' Blaine said, his eyes still following The King across the stage. 'I knew I couldn't be happy working in my dad's company, I just wanted to play the guitar and sing.'

'You were a musician then? Back in your time?' Kurt asked, his eyes never leaving Blaine's face, wanting to take in the flurry of emotions that was playing over it.

'I was trying to be.' Blaine said. 'I left Ohio and came to the city to try and make it. I had a large selection of songs that I could play and few I had written myself.'

'You wrote your own songs?' Kurt said excitedly. 'That's amazing; you'll have to play them for me sometime.'

Blaine blushed a little at the attention. His parents had never approved or appreciated his song writing abilities but his friends all thought they were good. It was his friends who had encouraged him to try in the first place.

'I don't have a guitar.' He shrugged.

'Did you ever get anywhere with your songs?'

Blaine shook his head. 'No, I had only just come to the city really. My parents wouldn't give me any money to try and make it work, they let me go so I could get the idea of it out of my head but they said I had to do it all on my own. That's why I volunteered to take part in the trial, I needed the money.'

'Oh.' Kurt said, not knowing what else to say to that. Blaine had made a daring move to leave his family and try and make it in the city. He had hopes and dreams and was doing his best to achieve them. It made what happened to him all the more tragic.

'Kurt, can I ask you a question?' Blaine said quietly, looking down at his hands.

'Sure.'

'Do they, the people at the lab, do they know why I was left frozen? I mean I know everyone keeps saying that I, and all the other people, were just found and no one knows why, but there must be some theories.' He was thinking about the two girls in the corridor discussing the fate of the frozen people.

Kurt paused for a second before answering.

'They really don't know Blaine. Everyone is coming up with their own theories of course but they're just rumours. The pharmaceutical company that own it now, The Pharm, took it over a year ago. They wanted to expand the fields they were researching in and the company working in that building, Meditech, had all the labs and everything for it already, so the Pharm bought them out. It wasn't too much of a challenge for them, Meditech had lost a lot of money and were about to close down.

I came to work in the lab shortly after it was renamed. They needed assistants in the lab and I needed some money. It wasn't until about a month ago when they wanted to knock the wall between the cryogenics lab and the empty offices next to it that they even found the room you were all in. It had been bricked up and the room wasn't on any of the official plans of the building or anything. The power source to the room doesn't show up anywhere either. It's all a mystery!'

'So what are the theories?' Blaine asked.

'Well there are a few people thinking it was all an accident, somehow you were bricked in and your records removed by accident. There are some who think that it was a secret experiment by *****, who wanted to test an illegal kind of cryogenics and were bought out too quickly for them to unfreeze you and remove all evidence. And then there are some who are saying it's a conspiracy. They think you were locked away to keep you out of the way of something. But no one knows what so it's not a very solid theory.'

'Oh.' Blaine sighed. It was hard enough to have been frozen and left for thirty six year and have to adjust to a completely different time, but to not have a reason for it was even worse. He had nothing and no one that he could blame.

'What about the scientists that were working in the lab at the time, don't they remember me?'

Kurt shook his head. 'I overheard Wes, uh Doctor Montgomery, talking to another doctor. Apparently he disappeared a few years ago, his body was found in the Easy River a few days later.'

Blaine didn't know what to say to that.

'What about my parents? Has anyone contacted them?'

'Oh, didn't they say?'

Blaine shook his head; no one had said anything to him about his parents.

Kurt huffed. 'That's great, that'll be Mary, she's in charge of contacting relatives and things like that. No doubt she decided to go home early instead of telling you. She's so lazy.' He grumbled.

'But she found them?

'Kind of. Your parents are alive still, your dad retired a few years ago and they moved abroad. We're just having trouble finding a contact number for them.'

'And my brother?'

'Living in New York!' Kurt smiled. 'He's an actor but he took the week off to go up state for a short vacation, he's unreachable too. But he'll be back in a few days.'

Blaine paused for a moment before asking his next question. He knew what the answer was going to be and knew it would be painful.

'Do they think I'm dead?'

Kurt put his hand on Blaine's knee, but he was too numb to feel it.

'Yes. They declared you missing, but after a few years there was no trace of you, no sightings or anything. So they declared you dead.'

'It's better that way.' Blaine said, taking a deep breath to try and hold back the tears. He knew he wasn't on the best terms with his parents but they all loved each other. He knew they must have gone through hell when he went missing and he felt an overwhelming guilt at putting them through that.

'Hey, can we listen to Suspicious Minds? I love that song.' Blaine asked, wanting to change the subject.

'Sure. Here why don't you do it?' Kurt grinned, handing the iPad over to Blaine who held it as if it were a bomb about to go off.

'Are you sure? I might break it or make it all Spanish again?'

'You'll be fine.' Kurt said. 'Press your finger against the search bar up there.'

Blaine did so, gingerly pressing his finger against the screen and pulling it back quickly as a bar with letters on it jumped on to the screen.

'Wow, that's really cool.' He laughed, the weight of their last conversation lifting a little.

'Ok, now just press on the letters you want and press the search button down there.'

Blaine frowned in concentration, carefully pressing each little letter and then pressing the blue search button.

'It worked!' He exclaimed.

'Uh huh.' Kurt grinned. 'We'll have you mastering this technology in no time!'

_**XxXxXxX**_

Blaine woke early the next morning, the red lights on the bedside table declaring that it was six thirty. He and Kurt weren't due back at the lab until nine thirty.

He looked around the room, a little disorientated until he remembered he had his own apartment now.

He got up from the bed and padded softly to the living room where Kurt was sleeping on the couch. They had talked about music until the early hours, going through all of Blaine's favourite music from his time, apparently there was far too much disco in there for Kurt's liking, and on to the eighties. They hadn't finished until the early hours and Kurt had opted to crash on Blaine's couch rather than go home just to come back again a few hours later.

Blaine had to admit there was a lot of good music he had missed. Queen had quickly become one of his favourites and Kurt had become very excited when he showed Blaine Madonna.

He had learned that Michael Jackson had become an amazing performer and even changed his skin colour and he had been absolutely devastated when he learned Elvis had died.

They had then gone over more modern music, covering boy bands and girl bands who took over nineties. They even listened to some rap artists even though Kurt didn't like rappers; he said Blaine needed the education.

He stood in the doorway watching Kurt sleep peacefully. He looked younger somehow, his face completely relaxed and peaceful.

He felt his stomach clench at the sight of him, but not in a bad way. He knew he was becoming attracted to the young man but he was trying to hold back. He still didn't know what the attitude towards homosexuality was and he didn't want to upset Kurt in any way.

Now he couldn't be caught staring Blaine took the opportunity to really look at Kurt. He was beautiful, he had noticed that straight away, but now Blaine could take it all in. The smooth, unblemished skin, the soft curve of his lips and his long neck. He just wished he could look into those deep blue eyes again.

As if hearing his wish Kurt's eyes blinked open, peering around the room for a moment as if trying to remember where he was.

'Good morning.' Blaine said, stepping into Kurt's view.

'Morning.' Kurt said sleepily, slumping back down on the pillows.

'Can I get you anything?' Blaine asked. Kurt had been taking such good care of him he wanted to try and return the favour.

'Can you remember how to work the coffee machine?' Kurt asked his voice thick with sleep.

'Yeah, I think I can manage it.'

'Then coffee please, lots and lots of coffee.'

_**XxXxXxX**_

Blaine had thought the lab had run every test on him they could, but it turns out he was wrong. They were still finding places to stick needles in to, samples to extract and intrusive questions to ask him.

Thankfully at lunch time Kurt came to his rescue.

'Dr. Montgomery, are you finished with Blaine yet?' He asked, poking his head through the door of the office they were sitting in.

The Doctor flashed Kurt a smile. 'Yes Mr. Hummel, we're all done, he's all yours again.'

'Great, ready for some lunch Blaine?'

_XxXxXxX_

Kurt had given free rein to Blaine over where they had lunch, but the choice was a little overwhelming to Blaine. He hadn't known much of the city in the first place and now everywhere had changed he didn't know where they could go.

'There's a MacDonald's on the corner if you want to go there.' Kurt suggested.

Blaine nodded. He could handle that, that was familiar enough for him.

'At least we still eat food and it's not all in pill form.' Kurt joked as they sat down with their trays.

Blaine smiled and took a bite of his burger, setting it back down on his tray with a frown.

'Everything ok?'

'It tastes different.' Blaine answered once he had swallowed.

'Does it taste bad?'

Blaine shook his head. 'No, just different.'

'I have some news.' Kurt said excitedly, practically bouncing in his seat.

'What is it?' Blaine smiled, catching Kurt's enthusiasm.

'I found you a job!'

Blaine faltered. A job? How was he supposed to hold down a job? He had only been unfrozen two days ago.

'I know what you're thinking.' Kurt waved his hand as if to wave Blaine's concerns away. 'But it's ok. My friend Jeff and his partner Nick work in a record shop a few blocks from where I live. They specialise in all the old stuff, mostly from the sixties and seventies. It's all vinyl in there, you'll love it.'

'That... that actually sounds like something I could do.' Blaine said. If there was one area he knew well it was music. 'But what about... you know, everything else.'

'Well, I thought about that. They're both decent people, I think you could tell them the truth if you wanted to. Or if not I thought up a story that might work. Basically you were raised on a hippy commune that didn't develop much past nineteen seventy five.'

Blaine laughed. 'You think that would work?'

Kurt shrugged. 'It's worth a try.'

Blaine picked at his burger, thinking over something Kurt had said.

'You said Jeff and Nick were partners. Did you mean business partners?'

'No they're gay.' Kurt said.

'As in, homosexual?'

'Yes.' He paused for a second, looking at Blaine. 'I'm sorry, I didn't even think, that's not a problem for you is it? I know attitudes were a lot different towards gays in your time.'

'No, it's no problem for me.' Blaine said. 'I just... a couple of my friends were homosexuals. They told people in their small group of friends but you couldn't really let just anyone know.'

'That's too bad.' Kurt said sadly.

'I know one guy who was a homosexual. He got caught with another man and that man's brothers took him out one night and beat him. He was in hospital for weeks. A few months after he got out they did it again, this time he was killed. And the authorities didn't really do anything.'

Kurt looked horrified. 'That's awful!' He said, putting down the fries he was about to eat, his appetite suddenly gone. 'I mean, I knew things were bad back then and that kind of stuff happened, but-'

'I know.' They sat in silence for a few moments. 'So, is that kind of thing more acceptable now?'

Kurt's face lifted a little.

'Yeah, I mean, it's more socially acceptable. There are still people who will beat you up for it or call you names but society as a whole is more accepting of it. Some states are even allowing gays to marry. It's brilliant.'

'That does sound good.' Blaine smiled. 'And by gay you mean homosexual right? They're not just happy people?'

'Well they're happy they're being allowed to marry.' Kurt laughed. 'But yeah; gay means homosexual.'

'Right.'

'So homosexuality isn't a problem for you then?' Kurt asked once more, as if to clarify that Blaine would be ok with his friends.

'No not at all, like my Grandma said; love is love, there's too much hate in the world for people to scorn love when it comes around, whatever form it comes in.'

'Your Grandma sounds pretty awesome.'

Blaine smiled at the memory of her, she had died a few months before he had left to follow his dreams, she had been the one who had convinced him to follow them in the first place.

'She was, she never quite left the hippy phase you know?'

'Wearing a lot of tie dye and spouting flower power?' Kurt asked.

Blaine chuckled. 'Pretty much.'

They finished their meal in a comfortable silence as Blaine mulled over the information he had just received. Homosexuality was a lot more acceptable in this time, even if there were still some people who opposed it. Blaine understood that, he remembered his father telling him that after their local swimming pool stopped segregating there were still some people who refused to swim with the coloured people. You would never be able to make everyone accept people who were 'different'.

But he was filled with a new sense of hope. Maybe now that he was in this time he might be able to admit what he was, to tell the world he was homosexual and maybe even be brave enough to find someone to date.

Like the man sitting opposite him.

He shook his head, he didn't know enough about Kurt to warrant that thought. He had made the assumption that Kurt was gay based on his mannerisms, something that he had always refused to do, and even if he was he didn't know if Kurt already had a boyfriend. Or if he would even want to date someone who was out of their own time.

'Are you ready to go?' Kurt broke him out of his thoughts and he smiled up at the young man.

'Yeah, let's go.'

_**XxXxXxX**_

Kurt hummed to himself as he made his way back to his office, taking out his key to unlock the door. Blaine had seemed to settle in well in the record shop and Nick and Jeff promised to take good care of him until Kurt came to take him home.

He knew Blaine was an adult, he knew that he would be more than capable to get himself home but he wanted to be there for him.

He hadn't minded passing up free tickets to a show the night before, spending the night in with Blaine had been fun.

Kurt liked Blaine, he was very interesting to talk to and seemed to be adapting quite well to the situation. His enthusiasm towards the music they had listened to had been infectious and Kurt had found himself enjoying disco music for once.

But there was something else there too, something else making him want to spend more time with Blaine. The way he caught Blaine looking at him from time to time made him wonder...

He shook his head. Blaine was scared and vulnerable right now and Kurt was helping him. He should confuse gratitude with attraction.

Kurt sighed as he opened the door to his small little office. It was barely big enough for a desk a file cabinet but it was his, even though he was only part time for most of the year.

He brushed aside a few of the papers on the desk, looking for Blaine's parents contact information. Mary still hadn't done anything and Kurt was sure it would be another week until she bothered. He might as well do it himself.

But the contact information wasn't there.

Kurt frowned. He was certain it had been there before he left. He had stuck a little yellow post-it on it saying 'Blaine' with a little heart underneath, to signify it was information about Blaine's loved ones, obviously, and left it next to the phone.

But now that space was empty.

He glanced over his desk, frowning as he noticed one of his desk drawers was open slightly. He was sure they were all closed when he left.

Someone had been in his office.

**Comments are love 3 Please let me know what you think!**


	4. Chapter 4

'You're certainly spending a lot of time with this guy.' Rachel said as she set down her steaming mug of green tea on the coffee table and sat next to Kurt on their small couch.

'It's my job Rachel, I have to look after him, make sure he's settling in.' Kurt said as he packed his iPhone charger in his overnight bag.

'I'm sure the lab isn't insisting that you spend the night with him.' Rachel smirked.

Kurt tried to ignore the colour rising on his cheeks. 'No, but I want to. He's alone and scared and I just want to be there for him.'

'Oh I bet you're being there for him.' She waggled her eyebrows at Kurt.

'It's not like that!' Kurt insisted. 'I'm just being nice.'

'Uh huh.'

'Showing him how music has changed and finding him a job so he can take care of himself.'

'Sure.'

'Stop that.'

Rachel sipped her tea as she watched Kurt pack some things into his overnight bag. He was due to meet Blaine in half an hour and walk him home.

She hadn't believed Kurt when he first told her what had been discovered at the lab. Strictly speaking Kurt wasn't supposed to tell anyone, but Rachel had pried it out of him and then promised not to tell another soul.

She gasped as she saw Kurt pull the battered old guitar case out from the small storage closet by the kitchen.

'You're taking Kieran's guitar?'

'Yeah.' Kurt smiled. 'Blaine said he loved to play the guitar and sing, but obviously he doesn't have one so I'm going to give him Kieran's.'

'But Kieran loved that guitar, he came round to ask for it back twenty times after he... after you two broke up.'

'Kieran is lucky I didn't throw it under a bus. Besides he couldn't even play it, he just used to abuse it and call it music. I think the guitar would be happier with someone who can play it.'

Rachel watched the smile play over Kurt's lips as he mentioned giving the instrument to Blaine. She sat in silence, watching Kurt tidy away the mess he had made in the kitchen. When he came back into the living room and sat on the couch she leaned over to him.

'Blaine.' She said.

Kurt smiled. 'What about him?'

Rachel covered her mouth and started giggling. 'Oh, you get the cutest smile on your face every time you think about him! It's adorable!'

'I do not!' Kurt said indignantly, feeling himself blush.

'Oh you do!' She insisted. 'Oh you really have a thing for him don't you.'

'No.' Kurt replied, even though he knew it was a lie. 'I'm just looking after him; I care about him, it's nothing.'

'You like him.' Rachel sang in a teasing tone.

'I do not! Beside's he's from the seventies and I don't even think he's gay.'

'People were gay in the seventies Kurt, you even said he had friends who were.'

'That doesn't mean he's gay though.'

'But he seems to like having you around all the time.'

'That's because I'm the only person he knows who doesn't poke him with a needle.'

'You could poke him with something else.'

'Rachel! Honestly you need to go out and get yourself laid and stop worrying about my sex life.'

'You don't have a sex life, that's why I'm worried. Since Kieran you've spent you're whole time either studying or at the research lab. And now you've met this gorgeous man who just so happens to have spent his former life in the seventies wearing very tight pants and you're not going to do anything?'

Kurt paused, taking in Rachel's words. It was true he hadn't been with anyone since Kieran, but that was his choice, he just didn't want to get hurt anymore, and he respected himself too much for a one-night stand.

'He's only just woken up and he's in a strange world. Even if he's gay, to do something now would be taking advantage of him Rachel, and I don't want to do that.' He said calmly, picking up his overnight bag and the guitar case and leaving the apartment.

**XxXxXxXxXx**

Blaine smiled as he watched Jeff and Nick close up the shop. There were very few times in his life when he knew for certain that he would get on with someone, that they shared the same points of view on subjects and enjoyed the same things.

He knew, as soon as Kurt introduced him to the two record shop owners, that they would get along brilliantly.

Kurt had ended up explaining to them, at Blaine's request, that Blaine had been raised on a hippy commune in Indiana, where time kind of halted when they reached the 1970's. He said it was a bit like the Amish communities, but a bit more modern.

Blaine wondered if they'd buy it, it was a pretty far out story but then he wondered if the truth would be any more believable.

Thankfully Nick and Jeff accepted the explanation and took Blaine under their wing immediately. After they had shown Blaine around the shop and showed him how to work the till they had spent the rest of the afternoon in a debate over who was the most influential artist from the 70's.

Blaine had gotten a bit lost when they talked about great songs from the later part of the decade, the songs that were released while he was frozen in a tube in a lab in the middle of Manhattan, but he felt he held up his side of the debate pretty well.

By then end of the afternoon a little bit of the melancholy that had been shadowing Blaine since he woke up had lifted. He had been worried and missing his family a lot, but a part of him was also wondering about his friends.

He had a lot of friends back home in Ohio and kept in touch with them when he moved to New York, writing letters and promising to visit occasionally. But he also had a small group of friends in New York, people he saw every day, people who were in some ways closer to him than family.

They would all have moved on and forgotten about him, they'd be living different lives now, lives he wasn't a part of. He couldn't help but feel left behind, forgotten about and abandoned.

But today had given him some hope. It had shown him that he could make new friends and find new people who could become family to him.

It had also shown him something else, the way Nick and Jeff were with each other; flirty and touchy but without any shame as they would have been in Blaine's day. They weren't afraid to show their love and it gave Blaine hope that maybe one day he could have that too.

Kurt's face leaped into the front of his mind at that thought, once again bringing a smile to Blaine's face. He knew he shouldn't be falling for the lab assistant that was helping him, Kurt was only doing his job after all, but Blaine couldn't help the warmth that spread across his chest every time he thought about him.

He looked up at the clock as Nick brought the shutters down at the front of the shop. Kurt had promised to meet him and walk him home that evening; he was even bringing an overnight bag so he could spend the night again.

'What are you smiling about?' Jeff sat next to him behind the counter, knocking his shoulder against Blaine's to catch his attention.

Blaine shook his head.

'Nothing. I've just had a really good day.' He said honestly. 'Thank you, both of you, for giving me this opportunity.'

'No problem Blaine, we've enjoyed having you here today. Besides, you knew who Riviera was. No one these days remembers them and they were brilliant! I think you're knowledge of the sixties and seventies will work out for you here.'

Blaine scoffed. 'How do people not know about Riviera? California Sun was the first song I ever learned to play on my guitar.'

'Oh you play the guitar?' Jeff asked, genuinely intrigued.

'Yeah.' Blaine replied wistfully. It had only really been less than a week since he had last played but his fingers missed the feel of the strings beneath them.

'What do you play?'

'Um, all kinds of things really, Elvis, Blondie, The Eagles. Any song I like I learn to play. Back in the... in the commune I always dreamt of coming to the city and playing, I even wrote some songs of my own. But now that I'm here all the music is different and I'm just not sure I'll fit in.' Blaine said sadly. Watching all the music videos with Kurt the night before had made him realise just how much music had changed in the last thirty six years.

Jeff smiled. 'The first three banks Nick and I went to said pretty much the same thing to us when we told them our plan to open a vintage record shop. They said vintage would sell and we'll be closed down in a week. In the end Nick's dad loaned us the money, I don't know if he believed in us or not but he wanted us to try and here we are.' He held up his arms and gestured around the room enthusiastically.

'You saw how busy we were this afternoon and it was quite a quiet one for us. People love vintage, it sells. I bet if you try I think you might find that people still enjoy your music. It never hurts to try Blaine.'

Blaine smiled and looked around the shop. It had been busy that afternoon, loads of people had been browsing the vinyls and plenty had ended up buying things too. Maybe he could still do it.

'I don't even know where to begin.' He said.

'Try busking.' Jeff offered. 'Take up a spot in the park and just start playing. You'll soon see if people like you or not.'

Blaine was about to respond when he saw a figure duck under the almost closed shutters and bound over to them.

'Hey.' Kurt grinned at them. 'How has today gone?'

Blaine smiled back. 'It's been great; this place was a great idea Kurt.'

'Yeah.' Jeff agreed. 'He's been brilliant, he has a lot of valuable knowledge of the seventies, we could use a guy like him around.'

Blaine felt a little colour rise in his cheeks at the praise but Kurt was almost beaming.

'Wow, I'm so glad it went well. I knew you'd fit in here Blaine.'

As he and Kurt were ducking back under the shutters and beginning to walk home Blaine glanced at Kurt's empty hands.

'Hey, didn't you grab your bag? I thought you were staying over tonight?' He said, hoping he didn't sound too desperate or even disappointed.

'I am, I dropped my bag off at yours on my way.' Kurt smiled, looking at Blaine as they walked along. 'Oh, and I got you something too.'

'What is it?'

'It's a surprise.'

**XxXxXxXxXx**

'You got me a guitar?' Blaine rushed over to the case as soon as they walked through the door, flipping it open and staring at the instrument in wonder.

'You said you liked to play, I thought you might like it.' Kurt grinned, watching Blaine bounce excitedly like a child at Christmas.

'I love it! But you didn't have to buy me one.' Blaine felt a little guilty, as if Kurt had put himself out by getting him the instrument.

Kurt shook his head and sat down on the couch, watching Blaine strum the strings gently.

'I didn't, it belonged to my ex boyfriend. He couldn't even play; it was painful to listen to.' Kurt bit his lip. 'I hope you don't mind that it's from an ex, it was just going to end up sitting in the storage cupboard forever otherwise.'

'I don't mind.' Blaine said, barely even caring about the guitars origins. He had a guitar again! And more than that, he had a confirmation that Kurt was gay. That piece of information went around and around in his head, opening up more possibilities to him. 'Won't he mind that I have it?'

'I don't care if he does!' Kurt said, wincing at the tone of his voice as soon as he said it. 'Sorry, bad break up.'

'I'm sorry to hear that.' Blaine said, sitting next to Kurt on the couch and placing his hand on Kurt's shoulder. 'What happened?'

Kurt took a shuddering breath and wrapped his arms around his knees.

'He cheated on me.' He said quietly.

'Oh.'

Kurt snorted. 'He didn't just cheat on me though; he bought some other guy back to my place in the middle of the day. He didn't even live with me. I came home to get some books for college and found him screwing some other guy on _my_ bed.'

'Wow, he sounds like a...' Blaine paused, searching for the right word.

'He was a douche.' Kurt said.

'I don't really know what that is, but he sounds like one.' Blaine agreed.

Kurt laughed; for once the memory of Kieran's betrayal didn't hurt him as deeply as it usually did.

'He really was. Do you fancy a pizza?' He said. 'You can play me some of your songs while we wait.'

**XxXxXxXxXx**

Hours later Blaine's fingers were sore from playing, his voice was growing hoarse and sleep was threatening to fog his mind. But he kept playing.

Performing made Blaine feel more alive than he ever had before, even if his audience was just one person this time. He played all his favourite songs, giving his own feel to them and when he had finished all of them he started playing the songs he had written himself. He didn't need notes or scores, every song; every chord was etched into his mind forever.

While he was playing he could forget everything that had happened to him. That he could be part of some strange conspiracy, that his family thought he was dead and that he had been thrust into a whole new time period where everything felt strange to him.

He could just focus on the music, let it flow through him and ease the pain and confusion. With everything else out of his mind he could focus on the gorgeous man sitting in front of him on the couch.

Kurt had sat on the couch and listened to Blaine play, cheering at the end of each song and when Blaine had sung every song he knew Kurt begged him to play some of his favourites again.

It was after midnight when Blaine stopped playing, his fingers getting stiff and his eyelids heavy. As much as he wanted to keep playing all night he conceded and suggested that they both got some sleep.

Kurt went to the bathroom to change into his pyjama's and brush his teeth as Blaine cleared up the pizza box and soda cans from the coffee table. He spread out the spare blanket and pillow over the couch, feeling slightly guilty once more at not giving Kurt the bed.

'I can sleep on the couch if you want.' He offered as Kurt came back into the room dressed in dark blue silk pyjamas.

Kurt smiled at him and shook his head.

'Blaine, you've been asleep in a tube for the last thirty six years, I think if anyone deserves the bed it's you.'

Blaine laughed softly. 'Yeah, I guess.'

'Well, goodnight.' Kurt said, moving over to the couch and dropping his overnight bag next to the coffee table. Blaine waited until Kurt was standing next to him and touched his arm lightly to get his attention.

'Thank you Kurt, for all you're doing, it really means a lot to me you know.' He said.

'It's really no problem Blaine.' Kurt replied, sounding a little breathless.

Blaine moved closer, not quite sure what he was planning to do, but wanting to be nearer to Kurt, to feel his body heat.

'I really mean it; I don't know what I would have done without you.'

They were standing so close now, barely inches between them and Blaine's hand still lingered on Kurt's arm, his thumb gentle caressing the silky material of his pyjamas. He could feel the heat of Kurt's skin through the material and smell the faded scent of his cologne.

There was a tension between them, something thick in the air, filling the tiny space between them and it made Blaine's head swim.

Kurt's breath caught in his throat and Blaine noticed his eyes kept flickering to Blaine's lips. Their faces were just inches apart and all Blaine had to do was lean forward, just a little bit, and capture Kurt's lips with his own and show him how he really felt.

'Good night Kurt.' He said drawing back abruptly, shocking himself away from his fantasy. He tried not to notice what part of him hoped was a disappointed look in Kurt's eyes as he did so. He might have woken up in a more tolerant society but the thought of being so close to another man still terrified him, just as much as it excited him.

He left Kurt alone in the living room and went to bed, cursing himself as he slipped under his covers, angry tears of frustration falling down his cheeks.

**XxXxXxXxXx**

Wes looked at the clock on his desk, wondering if ten thirty in the morning was too early to start drinking. He sighed and buried his face in his hands, wondering how the hell he got involved in something like this.

When his father gave him the job as head of the Cryogenics lab he thought, as he was sure his father thought, that it would be an easy job. He was still young and was honoured that his father would give him such a prominent position, even if it wouldn't be hard work. All he would have to do was watch over the day to day running of the lab and make sure it produced results.

No one could have imagined that they would stumble upon five frozen people in a secret room.

When they found the hidden room and the people with no records and no identities he was sure his father would swoop in and take everything over. He had hoped for it, in fact. He had no idea how he should be handling the situation.

But his father hadn't come and Wes had been left to sort everything out by himself.

At first he thought he had done a pretty good job, all of the patients were successfully woken and he assigned each one an assistant to take care of them. He had managed to keep the story away from the attention of the media and the government and he was even getting people to research how such a thing could have happened.

But last night he had gone home to his apartment and found the place completely trashed. His sofa cushions had been ripped to shreds, all of his books had been torn apart and every single plate, cup and glass had been smashed on the floor.

In his bedroom, in the centre of his bed spread out on the cream sheets, someone had placed a dead animal. Wes couldn't even be sure what kind of animal it was, all he could see were the bloody trails of its innards draped across the sheets.

He had vomited on the carpet and turned to flee from the apartment, wanting to get away and call the police as soon as he could.

But on the back of his front door he found a note, folded and pinned into the wood. With shaking hands he unpinned the note and read it, terror seizing him as he took in the instructions sprawled across the page.

He had the note with him now, spread out in front of him on the desk as he read over it again.

He was being watched. He was not to call the police or his father or his girlfriend would be killed. He was to cover up this whole situation, to rebuild over the wall they had opened and make everyone forget that people had been found in there. He was to write out statements that each of the people found had moved out of the state and there were even addresses in the note for him to put in the statement. These people were going to disappear and everyone needed to forget they were ever there in the first place.

There were no instructions to actually send these people to these places though and it made Wes's blood run cold to think what might happen to them.

Someone knocked on the door and he thrust the piece of paper into his desk drawer, calling out for whoever it was to come in.

'Hi Wes.' Kurt's smiling face appeared through the door and he walked over to Wes's desk with a cup of steaming coffee. 'Thought you could use a coffee, I haven't seen you in the lab at all this morning.' He frowned and took a closer look at Wes. 'Are you ok, you don't look like you slept very well?'

Of course Wes hadn't slept very well, he had fled to a hotel and laid awake all night on the hard mattress, reading the note over and over again, trying to figure out the whole situation.

'I'm fine Kurt.' He forced a smile on his face and took the coffee from the young assistant. He liked Kurt; he was enthusiastic about his work and kind to his colleagues. He had been a very welcome addition to the team.

'I wanted to ask you, do you know if someone went into my office yesterday.' Wes almost smiled at Kurt calling the tiny little room of his an office, the place was barly big enough to hold a desk but giving each of the assistants a small place to call their own made them feel more important.

'I don't think so, why?'

'Someone took Blaine's contact information off of my desk. I was going to call them myself seeing as Mary still hasn't done it.'

Wes closed his eyes. Mary hadn't called the families of the people they had found because Mary hadn't turned up for work for the past few days. He had received an email saying she was too ill to come into work but in light of the note he had received he was beginning to wonder.

'I'm sorry Kurt; I don't know anything about that.' He said.

'Oh, well, I remember that Blaine's brother is _the_ Cooper Anderson, I mean it's not hard to find out where he'll be. I was thinking I could pop down to the studio and explain the situation to him. I think Blaine really needs his family right now.'

Wes paused for a moment, wondering if that was such a good idea. The note hadn't said anything about not contacting the families. They were probably the ones behind the disappearing contact details and thought they had that covered.

But Wes was worried for Kurt. He was clearly spending a lot of time with Blaine and getting quite close to him. If Blaine was in danger then Kurt would be too and Wes couldn't bear the thought of anything happening to the young assistant because of him.

'I think that would be ok.' Wes said at last. He figured that maybe if Blaine had his family to rely on then Kurt wouldn't need to be around him so much and would be out of harm's way.

'Great, I'll go over there this afternoon.' Kurt smiled, turning to leave Wes's office and leave him in peace.

Wes felt guilty that he was so willing to protect Kurt but not the young man who had been found to be frozen for thirty six year and had seemingly done nothing wrong.

He sighed heavily. What else was there for him to do?

**XxXxXxXxXx**

Kurt sat in Cooper Anderson's dressing room, nervously wringing his hands together. He was surprised he was able to get into see him so quickly, he was sure the actor would have been busy, but when he mentioned to Cooper's assistant why he needed to see him the assistant had fitted him in straight away.

Now Kurt was wishing he hadn't been fitted in so quickly, he had no idea what he was going to say. He was a fashion student working in the lab part time; he didn't have any experience in this type of thing. He didn't know how to beak bad news or have any tactful way of explaining to Cooper what had happened to his brother.

But Blaine needed his family with him right now and Kurt wanted what was best for him. He wondered if he would be doing this if he had been assigned any of the other people who had been found frozen and guiltily realised the answer was no. He would have just showed them around their apartment, found them a job and left them to it.

Blaine was special.

His mind started wandering back to the previous night, to the moment when they had been standing so close, their lips just inches away...

He was broken from his thoughts as the door opened and Cooper walked in. He was a handsome man, looking good for his fifty eight years. His hair was dark grey, as was his closely trimmed beard, giving him a much more youthful appearance. Just as it usually did when the actor filled Kurt's TV at home, Kurt could feel his heart begin to flutter.

Good looks obviously ran in the Anderson family.

'Mr. Anderson, it's good to meet you.' Kurt said, standing up and greeting the older man politely. 'I'm a huge fan.' He couldn't help adding.

Cooper Anderson was one of the lead actors in the most popular daytime soap in America. There wasn't a student, housewife or unemployed person in the country who wasn't addicted to the program and it wasn't hard to see why. The cast were all extremely attractive, Cooper filling the role of the sexy older man as Chief of Medicine and the storylines were addictive if a little bizarre at times. Kurt had actually stayed home from a lecture to find out if the diamond Dr. Kelly had found in a patient's stomach was the reason the hospital had seemed to be under a curse.

'It's always nice to meet a fan.' Cooper said, sitting down in his chair and gesturing for Kurt to sit back down on the sofa. 'You said you had news about my brother's body?' He sat stiffly, as if preparing himself for the news.

Kurt gulped, cursing Mary one last time for not doing her job. He didn't know how to do this, he wasn't qualified and he was sure he was going to end up being escorted from the studio.

'Yes I do. You'll have to forgive me, I'm not the one who should be doing this but I don't know when Mary will get around to it and... Well you deserve to know.'

Cooper nodded gravely.

Kurt took a deep breath. 'You're not going to like what I have to say, but I need you to hear me out, ok?'

Cooper took a shuddering breath and nodded again, judging by the look on his face Kurt could tell he was imagining the most horrible ways for his little brother to have died.

'I've been waiting for this day for thirty six years.' He said, the sadness in his voice making Kurt want to cry. 'My little brother just vanished without a trace, no note, no clues, nothing. There was never a body, no evidence that he was dead, no explanations, nothing. He didn't get on well with our father but he would never just vanish like that. We knew something must have happened to him.'

Kurt's voice caught in his throat as he tried to answer. This wasn't just some interesting mystery at the lab anymore; he was witnessing just how hurt this family had been by what had happened. They weren't given any closure on Blaine; they had spent thirty six years not knowing if he was dead, if he had run away or if he was just missing.

Kurt couldn't even imagine how someone could cope with not knowing a loved one's fate. It must have been hell for them.

'After a few years we wanted a body you know?' Cooper continued. 'Just so we could have an answer, something to bury and say goodbye to. We had a funeral and everything but without something to bury it just felt empty. I don't think it helped anyone.'

Tears prickled at the corners of Kurt's eyes but he forcibly blinked them away, this wasn't about his emotions.

'Blaine's alive.' He said, his voice barly more than a whisper, but Cooper heard him clearly.

'Don't.' Cooper shook his head. 'Just don't.'

Thirty six years must be a long time to hold on to hope when everything seemed so hopeless, Kurt thought.

'He is. In Nineteen seventy six he signed up to take part in a scientific experiment at the cryogenics lab. He was meant to be frozen for two weeks and receive quite a lot of money. But the lab was taken over a few months ago and when they knocked down a wall to expand one of the rooms they found your brother, and a few other people, still frozen.'

Cooper stared at him, his eyes wide with shock and disbelief.

'They unfroze all of them. Blaine is alive, he's right here in New York.'

The silence in the room was almost deafening and Kurt could hear his own heart pounding.

'You need to get out.' Cooper said. His voice was quiet but Kurt could hear the slight tremble of rage at the edge of the words. 'Get out now!'

'Mr Anderson-.' Kurt began, not knowing how he was meant to convince him. He had briefly considered bringing Blain with him to meet his brother but that had seemed like a bad idea.

'This family has suffered enough over this without you bringing your pathetic lies into it.' There was anger in Cooper's voice now and Kurt could see his knuckles turning white as he gripped the arms of the chair.

Kurt pulled his phone out of his pocket and brought up a picture of Blaine he had taken last night. Blaine was smiling, playing his guitar and looking so genuinely happy.

Cooper paused, staring at the picture for a long time.

'That looks a lot like him.' He said.

'He told me about the time you taught him to ride his bike.' Kurt said cautiously, feeling that if he went too quickly with this he might scare Cooper off. 'You took him out on the street and he was so scared of falling off and hurting himself. But you promised him you'd be there to catch him.'

Cooper slumped back in his chair, holding Kurt's phone in his trembling hands.

'He got the hang of it quickly and started riding off, but you were running with him so you could catch him if he fell. You weren't paying attention to where you were going and you fell. He ended up taking care of you.'

Cooper let out a sob, covering his mouth quickly as the tears began to fall.

'Blaine is alive.' Kurt said. 'He misses you.'

'I miss him too.'

'Mr Anderson, they need you back on set in five minutes.' A young man with a clipboard in hand appeared at Cooper's door, looking at the two of them for a few seconds before scurrying off again.

'Look, here's my number and Blaine's address. Come and see him and see for yourself if it's real or not.' Kurt said. Cooper stared at the paper in his hands, not saying a word.

_**Comments are love 3 Please let me know what you think!**_


	5. Chapter 5

'Blaine?... Blaine?'

Blaine shook his head and brought himself out of his daydream. He was back in the record shop with Jeff and Nick for another day but for the last few minutes he had been staring into space thinking about Kurt.

He had come so close to kissing him the night before, their lips had been just inches away. He cursed himself again for being such a coward and backing away.

'You ok Blaine? You don't seem that focussed today.' Jeff asked, looking concerned.

'I'm sorry guys; I'm just a little distracted I guess. All this new technology is a little overwhelming.'

Nick waved his hand dismissively. 'Don't worry about it Blaine, we know you're dealing with a lot right now, adapting to a new world and everything.'

_You guys don't know the half of it_, Blaine thought.

'Hey, where'd you get the guitar?' Jeff asked, nudging the case Blaine had stored under the cashiers desk.

'Oh, Kurt got me that.' Blaine smiled.

'Looks a bit familiar.' Nick whispered to Jeff, even though Blaine was right next to them both and could still hear every word.

'He said it belonged to his last boyfriend.' Blaine offered.

'I'm surprised Kurt didn't throw it under a bus.' Jeff said with a frown. 'They didn't exactly part on the best of terms.' He explained to Blaine.

'Yeah, Kurt told me, I can't believe someone would do that to Kurt though, he's so nice.'

Jeff and Nick shared a look Blaine could only describe as significant and all of a sudden Blaine wanted to change the subject.

'Anyway, I thought I might go busking in the park after work, like you said Jeff. See if people still find my music relevant?'

Jeff smiled and nodded.

'That's a great idea Blaine. Why wait though? Nick can watch the shop and we'll go over the park now.'

Nick scowled. 'Oh sure, leave me behind.'

'Someone has to watch the shop.' Jeff grinned, bopping Nick on the nose with his finger and leading Blaine and his guitar towards the front door.

**XxXxXxXx**

They set up next to a tree by the lake in Central Park, opening up the guitar case on the ground as Blaine got ready.

Blaine watched as the people walked past, the crowds so different from the last time he had busked here. Kids walked around with headphones on, ignoring the world around them, people in smart suits talked on their phones as they walked and joggers ran past without another thought to anything else other than their running time.

Finally a couple in their late sixties came and stood in front of Blaine as he sang 'Love me Tender' holding hands and watching with fond looks on their faces.

As Blaine finished the song the man walked over and put a few bills into Blaine's guitar case.

'That was wonderful.' The woman smiled. 'That was the first song we danced to at our wedding.' She planted a kiss on her husband's cheek.

'We haven't heard that one for a while have we darling?' The man said. 'All the buskers down here these days, I don't recognize any of the songs they're playing. It's so nice to hear good music again.'

'I'm so glad you enjoyed it.' Blaine smiled, feeling the warmth spread into his chest once more.

'Do you know All You Need Is Love?'

'Oh of course.' Blaine said with a wink, launching straight into the song as the couple watched on.

Soon a small crowd had gathered around Blaine, mostly older people recognizing the songs of their youth but as Blaine sang a more varied audience arrived. Teenagers glanced his way as they walked past him, stopping to listen to a song or two before walking off again, young mother with babies in prams took a seat on a bench nearby to listen as their babies slept and a few middle aged people watched with interest.

Blaine felt his confidence grow with each round of applause that followed a song. He was happy enough just playing for the old couple but now the crowd had grown he felt his spirits lifting.

When he had finally worked his way through his repertoire of known songs he decided to take a chance. He struck up the first notes of a song, waiting for people to disperse as they realised this was a song they didn't recognize, but no one moved.

He sang with passion, his confidence growing with each verse until he reached the last note and the crowd applauded again.

'I don't think I've heard that one.' A woman in her fifties said.

'Uh, no, I wrote that one myself.' Blaine said.

'Well that was very good.' The woman who had first come to listen to Blaine play said.

'Yes, it's a very fresh sound, not like all those auto tuned monstrosities on the radio today.' Another man in the crowd agreed.

'Have you got anymore that you've written?' A young mother asked.

Blaine could feel himself blushing at all the attention. He hadn't received this much attention when he had busked in the seventies and the songs had been newer. He shot a glance over to where Jeff was sitting on a bench. Jeff still had his phone pointing at Blaine, recording him play as he said he would. When he saw Blaine look over at him he gave him an encouraging thumbs up.

'Sure, um, how about this one?' He struck up the first few notes, low and a little mournful before launching into a more upbeat tune, tapping his foot along in time as he sang.

He threw a glance over to where Jeff had been standing, wanting to share in his glory with the friend who had encouraged him. Jeff was still standing by the benches, but now he wasn't alone.

Kurt smiled at Blaine, giving him a little wave. Blaine couldn't help but smile, even though the song he was in the middle of was supposed to be a song about lost opportunities in love.

How appropriate, Blaine thought.

**XxXxXxXx**

'Wow, everyone seems to really be enjoying it.' Kurt grinned as Blaine turned back to the crowd; this was a great idea Jeff, thanks for letting me know you were here.'

'Uh huh.' Jeff grinned, looking at Kurt.

'Oh, and it looks like there's quite a bit of money in his case already, that's fantastic!'

'Sure.'

'Why are you staring at me?'

Jeff shook his head and laughed.

'Oh the look on your face Kurt.'

'What about it?'

'You're so in love.'

Kurt balked. 'People have got to stop saying that, it's so inappropriate, I'm helping him adjust to a new life, that's all.'

'Every time you talk about him you get a huge smile on your face. I've seen you look that happy in a long time. Not since... well you know who I mean.'

'Yep.' Kurt sighed. He knew exactly who Jeff meant.

'You know, Blaine gets the same stupid smile on his face every time he talks about you.'

Whatever Kurt was about to say was interrupted by the buzzing of his phone.

'Oh, its Blaine's brother. He wants to meet up.'

**XxXxXxXx**

Cooper looked up at the gates to Central Park with trepidation.

He hadn't been able to stop thinking about what Kurt had told him all afternoon, that there could possibly be a chance that his little brother was alive and Cooper would get the chance to see him again for the first time in thirty six years. It had made the day seem longer than he thought possible and as soon as he went back on set he couldn't seem to do anything right, messing up scene after scene until the director sent him home.

He had his doubts, of course he did, after all it seemed like such a ludicrous story. How could someone get frozen and then shut away without anyone knowing? Those kind of things just didn't happen.

Throughout the afternoon he had been trying to figure out what Kurt was trying to accomplish by making something like this up. Sure the kid in the photo looked a lot like Blaine did at twenty four, when he went missing, but why make up a story like that? What did he expect to achieve by raising Cooper's hopes?

There were some sick people in the world, Cooper thought, people who got kicks out of reporting false sightings about missing children, people who just liked attention whether it was negative or not.

Kurt just didn't seem like that sort of person though.

Cooper sighed and walked through the gates, heading towards the lake where Kurt had said Blaine was.

Even after all these years there was a small part of him clinging on to the hope that Blaine would still be alive, the hope festering away inside him and stopping him from moving on and getting over Blaine's disappearance. It always made him scan the crowds at any sports match just in case Blaine was one of the people in the stands cheering or stare at a man for a little too long as he wondered if that's what Blaine would look like now.

He was almost at the lake when he spotted the small crowd gathered. He couldn't quite see what they were gathered around, but he could hear it. The clear strumming of a guitar carried over the heads of the people watching and over to Cooper who recognized it immediately.

It was one he remembered well. It wasn't a popular song or even one anyone other than him would have heard before, it was one he had listened to being played from Blaine's bedroom one an old guitar that had once belonged to their granddad. It was a song Blaine had written entirely by himself, one of many that Cooper remembered him writing, composing each note carefully as he poured his soul into the song.

He remembered listening to Blaine play his songs, performing each one with so much heart and sincerity that Cooper couldn't help but get caught up in them.

Above the gentle murmuring of the crowds and the strumming of a guitar a young man started singing. Cooper was sure he felt his heart stop at the sound. It was a voice he remembered so well, a voice he had not heard for thirty six years yet longed to hear every single day.

He had often watched Blaine perform and thought that there was so much more to his little brother than their father saw. He had the potential to make a success of himself, to do more than just take over their father's textile deliver business and sit behind a desk for the rest of his life. When Blaine had called him to say he was moving to New York Cooper had been overjoyed for him.

He himself had been in place to take of their father's business but Cooper had not been able to resist the call of Hollywood. He loved acting, it made him alive and he couldn't spend the rest of his life pretending to be something he was not. When he left his father had disowned him but he hadn't cared, he was happier in Hollywood.

He walked over to the small crowd, pushing his way to the front so that he could see. Hope flared in his chest and for the first time in a very long time he let it.

Standing next to a tree, in front of an open guitar case and singing with as much love and joy as he always had, was Blaine.

There was no doubt in Cooper's mind that this man was his little brother. This was no lookalike or illusion, no cruel trick being played on him; Blaine was alive and standing right in front of him.

Despite so many years passing since their last meeting Blaine hadn't aged a day. He was still the joyous, handsome and young man that stared out at Cooper from every missing poster they had pinned up.

He was still every inch as Cooper remembered him.

Blaine kept on singing, glancing occasionally over to the other side of the crowd to where Cooper stood. Cooper followed his gaze and saw the young man who had come to see him earlier that day standing there. Kurt was staring back at Blaine, smiling fondly as he listened.

The song ended, the crowd applauded and Kurt walked over to Blaine, whispering something in his ear and pointing over to where Cooper stood. Blaine followed where Kurt was pointing, his eyes widening when he caught sight of Cooper.

Cooper smiled at him, hoping his little brother wouldn't notice the tears in his eyes or that fact that he couldn't top his hands from shaking. Blaine smiled back and whispered something to Kurt. Kurt nodded back and bent down to collect the guitar case and carried it back, with the guitar, to a bench nearby where a young blonde man was sitting. The blonde man pulled out his phone and the pair began to stare at the object, trying to pretend they weren't still watching Blaine.

Blaine said a quick goodbye to the crowd and walked over to where Cooper was standing, folding his arms across his chest nervously. Neither of them said a word as the crowd dispersed, waiting for privacy for their reunion. Cooper could feel Blaine studying him intently, instantly understanding the reason why. Blaine may not have aged a day, but he sure had.

'Hi.' Blaine said as soon as soon as the people around them had returned to jogging and walking in their own little worlds, not paying the least bit of attention to the two men facing each other, the apprehensive tension sparking between them.

'Hi.' Cooper replied, wanting to say so much more but the words caught in his throat.

'I thought you'd look more like Dad when you grew up.' Blaine smiled. 'But you look more like Mom.'

'Really? I don't remember Mom having a beard.' Cooper stroked one hand over his chin and Blaine's lips twitched.

'Is it really you Blaine?' He asked his voice barely more than a whisper as his throat tightened and tears welled in his eyes. The world had narrowed down to the young man in front of him, the man who could be the brother he thought he would never see again. He needed to hear it from Blaine himself.

'It's really me Cooper.'

'I've missed you so much.' Cooper could no longer hold back the tears threatening to fall and they began to roll down his cheeks. He stepped forward, scooping his younger brother into a tight hug, swearing never to let him go again.

**XxXxXxXx**

Their reunion had been emotional and Blaine was sure they had earned a few looks from people walking in the park as they hugged each other and cried. But neither of them had cared.

'So Kurt told me you made it as an actor.' Blaine smiled, taking a sip from the Styrofoam cup of coffee Kurt had brought over a little while before. He still couldn't believe the man sitting in front of him was his brother.

The world had grown up without him and while it was daunting to navigate it was nothing like seeing Cooper as an older man. That had completely thrown him. Made it _really_ real. People had carried on their lives without him. His friends had carried on their lives without him. His _family_. How much had he missed? How could he possibly make up for lost time? Would Cooper forgive him for leaving in the first place?

'Ha,' Cooper barked with the sarcastic glint Blaine had loved and hated as a child, 'made it' is probably a bit of a stretch, but I did alright. I had a few small roles in a few films that did well and a few bigger roles in films that didn't do so well. In the middle of the eighties I had a pretty successful run on a sitcom. I'm a soap actor now; it's a pretty good gig.' Cooper smiled.

'And Mom and Dad?' They would be in their late seventies by now, Blaine thought.

'They moved abroad, there was a bit of a scandal in the company and he retired about fifteen years ago, so did Derek Tanner, who was promoted to second in command after you disappeared. Martin Rider runs the company now.'

'That's good, Martin always had more visions for the company than either of us did anyway.' Martin was only a couple of years older than him and he genuinely seemed to enjoy working for the company.

'I'll call them later; let them know what happened to you. They were so upset when you disappeared Blaine.'

Blaine scoffed and looked away.

'No Blaine they were. I know you hadn't been getting on with them before you moved to New York but they still loved you. They were heartbroken.'

Blaine shifted uncomfortably in his seat, reminded once more of all the hurt he had caused.

'So.' Blaine said, wanting to change the subject. 'Do you have any kids?'

Cooper's face lit up and he pulled his phone from his pocket, showing Blaine a picture of a beautiful woman the same age as Cooper and a young man who looked just a bit younger than Blaine.

'That's my wife, Jennifer; we met and fell in love at an audition for a TV show. She's the most amazing woman I've ever met.'

'She's beautiful.' Blaine smiled.

'And that's our son, he's twenty one soon. We named him Blaine.'

Blaine's heart clenched painfully and he had to blink away the tears forming in his eyes.

'He's at college now studying business. I think Dad's business ambitions must have skipped a generation. But he's really into music too; I think you'd really get on with him.'

Blaine smiled. 'I'm sure I will.'

Cooper stared at the young man in front of him in wonder. He couldn't believe that after all these years he finally had his little brother back. He got up from his seat and reached across the table, pulling Blaine into another bone crushing hug.

**XxXxXxXxXx**

The evening was drawing in and outside of his office Wes could hear the laboratory staff bustling about as they got ready to go home for the night.

But Wes wouldn't be going home that night, he wasn't even sure if he wanted to return to his hotel room.

In front of him on the desk was another note. This one had been left in his office for him, right in the centre of his desk so there would be no chance for him to miss it.

'Tell your staff Ronald Edgemont has moved back to New Mexico; please destroy all records you have on him.

Remember the position you are in Dr. Montgomery.'

Wes didn't need to read between the lines. He knew Ronald, the first patient they had unfrozen, was dead.

It wouldn't be long until the rest of them were too.

_**Comments are love 3 Please let me know what you think!**_


	6. Chapter 6

Wesley Montgomery was an intelligent man. He had skipped two whole grades in high school, finished college at the top of his class and excelled in his graduate studies. In his first job he had been promoted to the head of the department, and while that was at the behest of his father he still felt that he deserved the position.

But now Wes knew what kind of man he really was. He was a coward.

He had been in charge of a situation where people had been in danger and he had done nothing. Now, because of his actions, a man was dead.

His mind went over the note he had received the night before and the note previous to that, both instructing him what to do, how to handle the situation and both taking control away from him. And he had sat back and let that happen out of fear. He hadn't stood up for these people, taken control and saved them, he had done nothing.

Wes fiddled with the memory stick on his desk. Last night he had returned to his hotel room absolutely sickened by what he had done. He had tried to justify it, tried to convince himself that Ronald somehow deserved it. Maybe he was a criminal and that was why he had been locked away like that in the first place. Too dangerous to be kept in a prison but not eligible for the death penalty, he had been frozen as a way to keep him detained until they discovered a way to control him.

But Wes remembered that man. He was funny and kind, and Wes couldn't imagine him as a dangerous criminal. He couldn't picture any of the people they had unfrozen to be dangerous.

So he pulled out his laptop and logged onto the hotel's free Wi-Fi, finally doing what he should have done the second he had found these people. He researched every single one of them.

What he discovered made him feel sick. He almost wished these people were dangerous criminals, at least then it all wouldn't seem so horrific.

When he finally closed down his computer it was almost morning and Wes finally understood everything. He had the key information he needed to set everything straight. All he needed was to take this information to the police. It wasn't quite evidence but it was more than enough to get them on the right path.

But his girlfriend was still in danger. They said they would kill her if he went to the police or told anyone and after what he had found out he believed them.

Wes sighed heavily as he lay down on the bed, foolishly wishing he could go back in time and inform the police the second they had found that hidden room.

But cryogenics wasn't a crime and everyone believed at the time it was just a genuine mistake. People signed their lives over to the lab when they agreed to be frozen and if they ended up in there for longer than they planned there wasn't much they could do about it.

These people hadn't agreed to _this_, though. This was something entirely separate from the harmless experiments of the lab.

A couple of short hours later, as he sat in his office staring at a memory stick on his desk, he knew what he had to do.

Whether he would live to see the end of the day was another matter.

_**XxXxXxXxXx**_

Blaine sang happily as he danced around the store with an armful of brand new vinyl's that needed putting on the racks. Well they weren't brand new; in fact they were the originals of songs from the sixties. They were records Blaine himself could have owned as a child, still in perfect condition and in their original sleeves.

Nick and Jeff had spent the morning at a rummage sale, as they did every Saturday morning, in the hope of finding old records they could sell. The usually found one or two and usually they were nothing to get excited about.

But that morning they had hit the jackpot. A whole trunk full of vinyls a young couple had found in their Grandmothers attic. They didn't realise the value of some of them and had only asked for $100 for the lot. Jeff had ended up paying $400 out of guilt, knowing that they would sell for so very much more.

They had stored about twenty of them behind the counter, locked away and given prices in the triple figures due to their rarity. The others were given to Blaine to file away across the store.

It was this story of good fortune that had cemented a decision Blaine had made the night before.

Kurt had stayed over again and the two of them had spent the night looking up Cooper's old friends on the internet. Most of them were "on" a place Kurt called a social networking site and although the readiness that Kurt could access their information and photos Blaine would have thought were private was a little scary, he had to admit it was nice to see how they had gotten on in life.

It hadn't been the same as seeing Cooper grown up, there was no jolt of shock as he realised the world had moved on without him, but then he had been better prepared this time.

They had all grown old, of course, and many were married with kids and even grandkids and every picture of them was a happy one. Jason, the first boy he had ever kissed, had three kids, an ex wife and a new boyfriend.

It hadn't set him in a melancholy mood as he thought it might, quite the opposite in fact. He had learned that anything could happen and best laid plans could go awry without any notice. He didn't want to waste anymore time. The world had carried on for thirty six years and he didn't want to miss out on any more of it.

Blaine stopped filing away the records and made his way determinedly over to the counter where Nick and Jeff were still crowing over their haul. He put the stack of vinyls on to the counter and waited for them to look at him.

He took a deep breath and asked the question that had been at the front of his mind for the last few days, the question he wanted to ask, but was too afraid of the answer. He wondered if the pair's infectiously joyous mood made him feel more optimistic about the outcome.

'Do you think Kurt likes me?' He asked.

'Yes.' They responded in unison, not even batting an eyelid at the question. Blaine knew he didn't have to worry about Nick and Jeff thinking badly of him for being gay, they were gay themselves after all, but he didn't think they'd already know he was.

'Every time we see you two together, giving each other longing looks and doing nothing we've wanted to shove you both in a cupboard until you hook up. But you've never been exposed to that kind of world and he's been hurt before. So we were waiting for you guys to work it out by yourselves.' Nick said.

'Oh.' Blaine paused. 'But... you _do_ think he likes me?'

Jeff smiled at him. 'Yes.'

Blaine hadn't expected such a confident answer; he wasn't quite sure how to progress from there.

'And you like him don't you?' Nick asked.

'Yes.' Blaine smiled. It was the first time he had ever admitted to someone that he liked another man. It was quite thrilling and a little terrifying at the same time.

'Then you should go and tell him. What have you got to lose?'

Blaine nodded. 'You're right, I should just tell him.'

The three of them stood in silence for a moment.

'What the hell are you waiting for?' Jeff exclaimed. 'It's a Saturday, it's lunch time and he's in his apartment, go and tell him now!'

Blaine heart began to thump in his chest. It would be so easy, he would just walk a few blocks to Kurt's apartment and let Kurt know how he felt. Why was the prospect so terrifying then?

'But what if he doesn't like me back?' He asked quietly, avoiding their gaze.

Nick snorted. 'He will, he does! But you won't ever find that out if you don't go to him. Go now!' He grabbed Blaine's shoulders and marched him towards the doors. 'Take the rest of the afternoon off and tell us all about it on Monday.'

Blaine smiled, hope rising in his chest as he stepped out the door. He gave them both a little wave and set off towards Kurt's apartment.

It was the first time he had walked alone in the city since it had changed. It brought about a sense of freedom that changed Blaine's perspective. He could handle this new world; it wasn't so different from the one he knew. And if he could handle that he could handle anything.

He strode confidently down the streets, getting closer and closer to Kurt's apartment. He would knock on the door, grab on to Kurt's hands, look him in the eye and tell him how he felt.

His stomach clenched nervously as he reached the block next to Kurt's but he shook it off. It would be ok, he could do this.

Blaine could barely keep the smile off his face as he rounded the corner onto Kurt's street and he clasped his hands together in excitement.

But as he turned the corner he stopped, the smile dropping from his face in an instant.

Kurt was there, standing outside the door to his apartment, in the arms of another man.

Blaine felt his heart freeze as he took in the scene. Kurt was holding the other man close, looking as though he would never let him go. His fingers were digging in to the other man's back, as if he was scared the man would suddenly vanish.

The man was taller than Kurt, lifting him off the ground as they hugged and making Kurt laugh. He had shortly cropped hair and looked as happy as Kurt, holding Kurt close.

Blaine kept expecting them to break apart but they went on hugging, far too long for it to be two people who had bumped in to each other after a while. They obviously meant a lot to each other.

Finally Kurt was put back down on to the sidewalk and they stopped hugging. Kurt took the man's face in his hands and his lips moved as he spoke, but Blaine couldn't hear what he was saying.

The whole situation was clear to Blaine, obviously there was someone else in Kurt's life. He had been foolish to assume there wouldn't be. After all, he couldn't be the only one to realise what an amazing person Kurt was.

Kurt bounced on his heels as the other man said something before grabbing the man's hand and leading him into the apartment.

Blaine stood where he was, unnoticed on the corner of the street, staring at the space where Kurt had been just seconds ago.

The shock of the situation seemed to finally sink in and he felt his heart sink.

He lowered his head and walked away.

_**XxXxXxXx**_

Kurt stepped out of the elevator and into the laboratory. It was late on a Saturday afternoon so there was no one there. The machines ran themselves over the weekend and were monitored remotely so someone could be sent to attend them if something went wrong.

He himself wouldn't even be there if he hadn't left his camera in his office. He was planning on taking Blaine on a tour of the city the next day and wanted a better camera than the one on his phone.

It was almost eerie being in the lab over the weekend and Kurt hadn't noticed just how ominous the place could be. When it was filled with the bustle of busy people it was hard to notice the tomb like contraptions that were used for freezing, or the pictures of people in a frozen state dotted around the place, looking almost like corpses.

He shuddered and rushed over to his office, eager to get his camera and leave again quickly.

A small groan caught his attention. He turned his head, trying to seek out where the sound had come from, but the lab fell silent once more.

He began to walk towards his office again when he heard it, a little louder this time.

'Hello? Is there anyone there?' Kurt called out.

'...elp-.' I tiny, broken sounded voice called out from Wes's office. Kurt felt fear creeping in to him veins. The person calling for help sounded terrible, their voice croaky and barely more than a whisper. He was scared what he was going to find when he opened the door.

The door creaked open ominously and Kurt peered into the dim room. He felt around for the light switch and turned it on, gasping as his fingertips came away covered in blood.

'Wes!' He cried out, rushing over to the still figure lying in the middle of the room. 'Oh my God what happened?'

'-Urt.' Wes croaked, couching and spluttering as blood crept into his throat. His white shirt was covered in blood, seeping into the material but there was too much for Kurt to see where it was coming from. Wes's face was a myriad of bruises and abrasions, his eyes swollen shut and his lips split multiple times. Kurt felt his stomach lurch as he noticed the odd angles of Wes's limbs, they looked broken and dislocated.

'Hold on, I'm going to call an ambulance, just hold on Wes.' Kurt said, frantically pulling out his phone with trembling fingers and dialling 911.

Wes opened a swollen eye and looked at Kurt, his hand reaching out to grasp Kurt's hand. He looked as though he was trying to speak.

'It's ok Wes, it'll be ok.' Kurt tried to assure him. The operator answered his call and Kurt quickly gave over the laboratory's address and Wes's condition.

Wes moved his hand, clasped into a fist, and knocked it against Kurt's trying to get his attention.

'They're in trouble.' He croaked as Kurt put down the phone.

'What, who are?' Kurt frowned.

'The people who were hidden away. They're all in trouble.'

'Blaine?' Kurt asked.

'There going to go after him Kurt, they're going to kill him, you need to stay away, they'll be watching you.'

Terror seized Kurt and he hardly knew what to say. He thought about Blaine, a man who he had only known a few days who had already made his way to the depths of Kurt's heart. He shook his head.

'I can't leave him if he's in trouble. He needs me.'

'Then... run!' Wes gargled, his voice thick with blood. 'Find him and hide.' He thrust his clenched fist into Kurt's hand with great difficulty, uncurling his fingers and dropping a memory stick into his palm. 'Look at that, it holds all the information you'll need. Just keep yourselves- keep safe.'

Wes's eyelids fluttered shut and his hand lay limp against Kurt's arm.

In the silence that filled the office Kurt could hear nothing but the sound of the blood rushing in his ears. His legs felt weak as he stood up but he forced himself to move.

Blaine was in trouble. All the people who they had found hidden away were, but Kurt couldn't help them, not right now.

He had to find Blaine.

_**XxXxXxXxXx**_

Blaine walked along the streets, keeping his head down and not caring where he was heading.

In his pocket he felt something vibrate. Kurt had given him a phone so that he could keep in touch when they weren't together. He laughed as he told Blaine it was the most old fashioned one he could find as a way of easing Blaine into the whole 'smart phone' generation.

Blaine thought it was amazing, even if it was simple. It could call people without a cord; it could take pictures and even send written messages instantly. He didn't see how it was in anyway simple.

But right then he couldn't be amazed by it, it was just another thing to show how isolated he had become. There were only four contacts on the phone, Kurt, his brother and his two employers. That was all the people he knew in the world now that he could contact.

That morning he felt that they would be enough, that he could rebuild his life from them, but seeing Kurt in the arms of another man had dashed his hopes.

He looked at Kurt's name flashing on the screen and hit the 'ignore' button.

_**XxXxXxXxXx**_

'Oh Blaine.' Kurt groaned. 'Answer your phone.' He stepped into the busy road and raised his hand to hail a cab.

He felt so guilty at leaving Wes in that state but he knew help was on its way and there wasn't anything else he could do for him.

A cab pulled over to Kurt and he rushed over to the door, yanking it open and almost dropping the memory stick in his haste. His hands were still shaking and his palms were sweaty as he began to panic.

As soon as he left the lab he had called the record shop, fully expecting to hear that Blaine was there and he could keep safe until Kurt arrived to sort out the situation. But Jeff had said Blaine left hours ago to see Kurt, they thought he was with him.

Kurt's heart was racing as he tried to figure out what was going on. There was a sinister reason for Blaine and the other's to be hidden away after they had been frozen and now they were awake someone was trying to cover it all up and Kurt felt he was right to assume they wouldn't be nice people.

But where was Blaine? Jeff and Nick said he had left to see him but he had never arrived at Kurt's. Had someone got to him as he was walking?

He gave the cab driver Blaine's address and tried to call him again.

The call was disconnected again after just a few rings. Blaine, or someone who had his phone, was ignoring the call.

He growled in frustration and silently urged the driver to go faster. The journey seemed to be taking forever.

Finally he reached Blaine's apartment, jumping out of the cab and almost forgetting to pay the driver, running over to the front door.

He bounded up the steps to the second floor where Blaine's apartment was situated. As his foot hit the top step a movement down the hall caught his eye.

A man dressed in black was standing outside Blaine's front door. From the wood chips on the floor and the strange angle the door was at Kurt could tell it had been kicked off its hinges.

Without missing a beat he carried on up the stairs to the next floor, keeping his head down and hoping the man hadn't noticed him.

He climbed all the way to the fifth floor, the furthest he could go without reaching the roof, before stopping.

Kurt didn't know what to do. In the movies people always had a plan, something in place for when this kind of thing happened, but Kurt was just a college student spending his summer working as a lab assistant, he didn't know what to do! He'd never had anyone dangerous after him before.

All he wanted was to find Blaine and take him somewhere safe until this all blew over. The only problem was finding Blaine.

He picked out his phone and tried to call Blaine one more time; once again the call was disconnected.

Kurt groaned, tears of frustration pricking in his eyes. He was stuck up here, not daring to go back downstairs while the man was still there in case he saw him.

'It's ok Kurt, just think, take a deep breath.'

He took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down, breathing until his heart slowed down to a more natural pace and he could think a little clearer.

_Ok, so I don't know where Blaine is, but he can't have been caught yet, they wouldn't be waiting by his door if they had. Maybe he just went for a walk and his cell phone is out of range? You just need to think about this logically. Where would Blaine go? _

He thought about the places Blaine had said he liked in the city, Central Park, a few clubs that he had frequented in his own time, the park near to the ferry ports. He would probably be at one of those places, but he needed to narrow it down.

The clubs had probably closed down now and Kurt was sure that if Blaine went to Central Park he would take his guitar so he could busk, but Jeff said it was still at the store.

_There you are then, go to the ferry ports._

He paused. How was he supposed to get out of the building?

He heard footsteps coming towards him up the stairs. He didn't wait to see who it was, he bolted towards the window at the end of the hall; just outside the window was a fire escape, the rusty metal stairs going all the way down to the alleyway below.

'Good job I'm not wearing the Armani today.' He sighed, stepping out on to the metal ledge.

As soon as he reached the street he jumped into a cab, ordering it to go towards the docks, not sparing a glance to see if anyone was following him. He sat back in the seat wondering if journeys across the city always took this long or if the driver was doing it on purpose because he was in a hurry.

He couldn't shake off the feeling he was being watched.

_**XxXxXxXxXx**_

Kurt remembered to pay the cab driver this time, thrusting a few notes into his hand before jumping from the cab and rushing over to the small park area. The day was begining to cool off but there were plenty of people still milling about.

He pushed his way through the people, searching everyone's faces for a glimpse of Blaine. He hoped the other man was here, there were plenty of people around so it would mean there was less chance for anyone to do something to him.

After a few frantic minutes of searching he spotted a figure sitting on the table of a picnic table, his feet perched on the seat, shoulders slumped and looking at his hands. Though he was far away he could tell it was Blaine.

'Blaine.' He called out, striding over to him. Blaine looked up from the table, catching Kurt's eye. To Kurt's utter confusion he got up from the table and began to walk away.

'Blaine!' He called again, running to catch up with him. 'Hey, what's the matter?' He grabbed Blaine's arm, frowning as Blaine shook him off.

'God, can't you leave me alone? I don't need you with me every single second of the day Kurt.'

Kurt balked, even given the situation they were in that statement stung. He shook his head; he didn't have time to worry about that now.

'Listen Blaine, you're in trouble, the people who froze you are after you, they almost killed Wes and he said they're going to kill you, we need to get you somewhere safe.'

Blaine looked hesitant, as if he was drawn between reacting to Kurt's words and staying mad towards him.

'Wait, what?' He said.

From the corner of his eye Kurt noticed someone standing at the edge of the park, standing out from the rest of the crowd. He was dressed in dark clothing and didn't seem to be going anywhere. He was too far away for Kurt to see his face but he was sure the man was staring at them.

'You're in danger, we need to go.' He insisted, taking hold of Blaine's arm.

Still in shock at Kurt's words he let the other man drag him out of the park and into a cab.

'Where are we going?' He asked.

'I know somewhere we'll be safe.' Kurt replied. He tried to meet Blaine's eye but Blaine turned his head, staring out of the window.

_**XxXxXxXxXx**_

'This is my friend Sugar's apartment.' Kurt said as he opened the front door with the key. He walked over to a small box on the wall, punching in a four digit code to stop the alarm from going off.

'It's pretty big.' Blaine said, looking around the penthouse apartment in amazement. 'She lets you have a key?'

'Yeah, her whole family is abroad for a few months and she gave me the key in case she needed any clothes sent out to her.' Kurt explained closing and locking the door behind them, making sure the alarm was set again. 'I think we'll be ok here.'

Blaine nodded and walked away from Kurt, heading towards the couch to sit down.

Kurt frowned again at Blaine's behaviour; he didn't understand why he was in such a strange mood. It wasn't as if he was angry, he just looked dejected. He wondered if showing Blaine how his friends had moved on last night had been such a good idea.

The mood between them, which since the day they had met had been light and friendly, was now filled with tension.

'Shall we take a look at what Wes found out then?' Kurt said, walking over to the laptop sitting on the coffee table and flipping it open.

As he waited for it to load he thought about Wes, bloody and beaten and alone in his office. He hoped the ambulance had found him quickly and he was ok.

As they looked through the pages and pages of information on the memory stick Blaine seemed to snap out of his foul mood, taking an interest in what had caused him to be hidden away.

As they read though the notes Wes had attached to each page realisation crept in.

The details of each person who had been frozen, on their own, were nothing particular. They all went missing too far apart for anyone to notice a connection between them. But once you knew what happened to them and an association could be drawn it all came together.

The missing people's bio's, the newspaper reports, the company information and Wes's own observations all told a story.

_Peter O'Ryan ran a drug smuggling operation out of New York City. He worked alongside of the mob, but they weren't really a part of each other. As the times and technology moved forward it became harder and harder for people to smuggle drugs in to the country successfully._

_But apparently Peter found a way. He sent one of his men, Oliver Ferguson, to work for the company Blaine's father owned in Ohio, a company that transported goods from Vietnam to the USA. He got himself employed into a senior role and set Peter's plan in motion. _

_The first part of the plan seemed to be getting rid of Blaine, he was the man set up to be the one in charge of shipping control and the one in the way. Oliver learned that Blaine was planning to travel to New York and informed Peter. _

_Peter had connections to the people who ran Meditech, the pharmaceutical company that Blaine had signed up with, and arranged for Blaine to 'disappear'. According to Wes the police were following Peter, it was too risky for them to have a body lying around, murder was out of the question._

_After Blaine vanished Oliver was placed in his desired position in the company and within a few months Peter O'Ryan had a new route for smuggling drugs into the country and Blaine was hidden somewhere no one would think to look. _

_There was a small disturbance in his plan when the technician who had been in charge of Blaine was killed, but once again Peter placed one of his own men in the company, ensuring his secret would be kept safe. _

_Over the years Peter did this to the other people they had found shut away with Blaine, gaining a link in various other companies for his advantage._

_This arrangement worked well for quite a few years, until the mid nineties when the FBI launched a massive investigation in to the drug scene in New York. They discovered the links to the various companies and shut off the supply._

_The men Peter had placed in the companies vanished before they were discovered and were now believed to be hiding abroad. _

_Peter hadn't been so lucky, he and his gang were sent down for life and the biggest drug smuggling scheme in New York was shut down. _

_No one said anything about the people hidden away in a secret room, forced cryogenics was akin to murder and no one was willing to admit to that. They thought they were safe, no one would ever discover them. _

'They obviously didn't assume the company would be bought out.' Kurt said quietly.

Blaine was tense, his arms wrapped around his chest as he digested the information. Kurt followed him with his eyes as Blaine got up from the sofa and walked over to the doors leading out to the rooftop patio.

'Blaine?'

'They didn't have to do that.' Blaine said, his voice shaking with anger and his hands clenching. 'I was leaving! Just like Cooper I was going to leave the business and they could have just taking their stupid position in the company. They didn't have to take my life away from me.'

His voice broke as tears spilled from his eyes and he sank down to the floor, resting his head in his arms and hiding away from Kurt.

'Blaine, I'm so sorry.' Kurt whispered, crouching down next to him and placing a hand on his knee. He had felt sorry for Blaine since he had discovered how long he had been frozen against his wishes, but now he knew the truth and how pointless it had all been it was all the more tragic.

Blaine snorted and wiped his tears away roughly.

'Don't pity me Kurt, I don't need it.' He jerked his knee away from Kurt's hand.

Hurt flashed through Kurt once more as Blaine rejected him. He knew Blaine was upset about what they had just learned but Blaine had never shut him out like that. Every time he got upset about his fate he had turned to Kurt for comfort.

'Blaine, have I done something wrong?' He knew it wasn't the time to be thinking about himself, but he needed to know what he had done to cause Blaine to be so upset with him.

'You've been so nice to me Kurt.' Blaine said, standing up and spreading his arms. 'You've spent all your time with me and cared for me.'

'And that makes you mad at me?' Kurt frowned, looking up at Blaine from his position on the floor.

'You made me think there could be something between us. You made me think you might like me. Why would you do that when you're seeing another guy?'

'Another guy? I'm not seeing anyone Blaine.' Kurt said, standing up to face Blaine.

'I came to see you today; I was going to tell you how I felt about you.' He laughed bitterly. 'I saw you hugging him. You don't hug just anyone like that.'

To Blaine's surprise Kurt let out a small laugh.

'Oh Blaine.' Kurt shook his head. 'Believe me that wasn't a guy that I'm seeing.'

'Who was it then?' The anger in Blaine burnt away and he was left in confusion.

'That was my brother Finn! He's just come back from deployment in Afghanistan and came to see me before he went home. He only had a couple of hours in New York before his flight. It was so good to see him again, I've really missed him.'

'Oh.' Blaine said, feeling a sense of foolishness creep in.

Kurt took a step closer and tried to catch Blaine's eye.

'You said you were coming to tell me how you felt?' He prompted with a smile.

Blaine's lips quirked and he felt a blush rising on his cheeks as he looked at Kurt.

'I know I've only known you a few days Kurt.' He said, taking hold of Kurt's hands. 'But I just feel...'

'I know.' Kurt grinned, squeezing Blaine's hands.

They leaned into each other, their eyes closing as their lips inched closer together.

They broke apart suddenly as the front door was kicked in with a loud bang.

_**Comments are love 3 Please let me know what you think!**_


	7. Chapter 7

Kurt and Blaine both jumped, startled as the front door to the apartment was forced open. The alarm sounded immediately, a loud shriek emanating through the penthouse and striking fear into both boys' hearts. For a moment neither of them could move, as if they were frozen to the spot with terror.

There was the sound of a gunshot and the alarm ceased. The shot seemed to be enough to shock them both into action; Kurt grabbed hold of Blaine's arm and pulled him out towards the rooftop patio.

'How did they find us?' He hissed as he slid the door shut behind them as quickly as possible. They both hid to the side of the door, their hearts pounding as they heard someone stomping about inside.

Kurt inched his head closer to the door, peering around the edge of the brickwork the door was secured to and looking into the apartment.

The room appeared to be empty and Kurt dared to get a better look.

'Kurt, get back!' Blaine whispered urgently, tugging on Kurt's arm.

Just as Kurt was about to move away from the door a figure emerged from the direction of the bedrooms, moving so quickly it made Kurt startle.

It looked like a man, tall and dressed entirely in black, striding angrily through the apartment. He forced open closets and doors, searching for the two men currently hiding just a few feet away.

It felt like something out of a horror movie, at this point Kurt would be screaming at the people in the film, telling them to run and save themselves. But now it was him who was the one in danger and there was nowhere to run as the man ransacked the apartment to find them.

Blaine pressed himself against Kurt's back, his solid presence offering Kurt a little solace in the fact he wasn't alone in this terror.

Kurt looked around the patio, searching desperately for a way out of this situation. He had been on this rooftop many times, usually during parties. Coloured lights would be strung across the terrace and people would be milling about, socializing and enjoying themselves.

It was a stark contrast to the shadowy place they were hiding in now.

There was no escape off the roof, except for a thirty story drop to the pavement below.

'Kurt.' Blaine whispered his lips so close to the back of Kurt's neck it made him tingle despite the situation. 'You don't have to stay.'

'What?' Kurt turned around to face the man behind him.

'He's after me Kurt; you don't have anything to do with this. I'll give myself up and you can leave.'

Kurt could see the consuming guilt in Blaine's eyes at the thought that he had put Kurt in to this situation in the first place.

'Blaine, I'm not leaving you. It's not your fault you're in this mess. I can help.'

'Don't be so stupid Kurt.' Blaine hissed angrily. 'These people aren't going to mess around, they were capable enough to make seven people disappear, the can do it again with us. Just let me give myself up and you can go.'

Kurt paused for a second, taking a moment to seriously consider the implication. There was someone after them, they could be armed and they probably wouldn't be merciful.

There was every possibility that he could die tonight, was this man who he had only known for a few days really worth that?

He looked at Blaine, so beautiful and so lost. The few nights they had spent together, bonding over music and their lives had been some of the best nights of Kurt's life, he had seen. He knew it was crazy and far too soon to be thinking feelings of love, but he felt something so strong for Blaine he knew he couldn't leave him to face his fate alone.

'I'm not leaving you Blaine.' Kurt insisted firmly.

The door to the patio slid open with an ominous creek. Kurt and Blaine huddled closer together, shrinking back further into the shadows as if the dim light could hide them from the horror stepping out onto the patio.

The man dressed in black held his hand gun out in front of him, the moonlight glinting of the muzzle, pointing it around the rooftop as he searched for his prey.

From behind him Kurt could feel Blaine take a deep breath before placing himself in front of Kurt.

'Stop, please, you don't have to do this.' He pleaded, holding his hands up to show he was unarmed as the man turned to face them, pointing his gun at them.

'Ah, Mr Anderson.' The man smiled maliciously. 'We've been looking for you. I didn't expect to find you in such a nice place though, not since you didn't get paid for the experiment, you must still be broke.' He laughed at his cruel joke.

'I won't tell anyone what's happened, I promise, I'll go in to hiding and no one needs to know I was even frozen.' Blaine appealed to the man.

Kurt stared at the man, recognizing his face immediately. The leaders of the drugs ring had been arrested and sent to prison for life, the big players had hidden abroad and all the petty criminals involved had scurried away to other low life organizations. There was only one man who could still want to keep this hidden.

'You're Peter O'Ryan's son aren't you?' Kurt said quietly from his position behind Blaine. 'You're Jack?'

Jack O'Ryan's smile grew wider. 'That's right.' He turned back to look at Blaine. 'Oh Blaine, I can see you're enjoying the liberation of sexuality that's come about. I can see why you don't want to die.' He winked at Kurt, making the man shrink back.

'I don't want to die.' Blaine said. 'You don't have to kill me, I swear, I'll just disappear.'

'Nope. No deal disco boy. I can't take the chance that someone will find out what happened and a lot of people who have managed to escape being included in this whole situation will be prosecuted.'

'But... they must be retired by now, if they're even still alive.' Blaine frowned.

'And they want to die free men Blaine.' Jack sneered. 'And the only way to do that is to make sure no one ever finds out what happened.'

Kurt watched as the Jack cocked his gun, aiming it at Blaine's chest and moving to pull the trigger.

Without even thinking he placed his hands firmly on Blaine's side and shoved him away from where he was standing. Blaine stumbled away just as the trigger was pulled, the shot echoing deafeningly around the terrace.

The action moved Kurt in the space where Blaine had been standing in the same instant as the bullet sped towards them. Kurt screamed out as he felt the bullet rip through his skin and into his body, dropping to the ground and Blaine's feet.

**XxXxXxXxX**

Blaine stared down at Kurt's body lying face down on the ground. He wasn't moving and Blaine could see a puddle of dark red blood begin to seep out around him.

'Whoops.' Jack laughed. 'Oh well, one more won't matter will it.'

'You shot him.' Blaine gasped. His whole body suddenly felt numb as he took in what had just happened. Kurt had saved his life.

'He got in the way.' Jack shrugged.

'But, he can't be dead.' Blaine felt his hands begin to shake. Kurt couldn't be dead, he just couldn't. There was no way he just gave his own life for Blaine's. He knew he should be focussing on the man trying to kill him but all Blaine could do was watch Kurt, searching him desperately for any sign of movement.

Relief hit him like a train as he saw the slight movement of Kurt's breathing. He was still alive, but for how long?

'He took a bullet to the chest; it's fair to assume he is.' He obviously hadn't noticed what Blaine saw.

Blaine heard the click of the gun being cocked again, looking up to see the muzzle pointing straight at his face.

'There's no one to save you now Blaine.' Jack chuckled.

In that moment Blaine saw red. The most recent days of his life flashed before his eyes; volunteering for the experiment with no idea what was going to happen, waking up to find thirty six years had passed, finding Kurt only to get him shot, discovering the whole reason he had been frozen in the first place had been so unnecessary.

He threw himself forward, launching himself at Jack O'Ryan and knocking the gun out of his hand in the man's initial confusion.

Jack recovered from his shock quickly, throwing Blaine off of him and going after the gun. But Blaine was fuelled by a raw anger he had never felt before, giving him the strength and reflexes to act quickly. He grabbed Jack's leg, yanking him to the ground and kneeling over him, punching his face, chest, anywhere he could reach.

Jack tried to fend off the punches but his skills were better placed in shooting people then fighting with them and Blaine didn't find it so hard to keep the man down.

He was caught by surprise as Jack brought up a leg to kick Blaine in the stomach, forcing him on to his back.

The two men struggled to their feet and assessed each other. Jack was taller and heavier built, normally Blaine would say Jack would easily have the upper hand over him, but he was so angry he felt he could take him on easily.

At the same time they launched at each other, scrapping and trying to throw the other to the ground. Their fists clenched firmly on to the other man's arms, struggling to overpower him.

Jack took a step backwards, his foot catching on a small rise in the paving of the patio and sending them both flying towards the railings protecting them from the sheer drop down to the sidewalk.

The railing wasn't sturdy enough to take the weight of two fully grown men crashing in to it. It gave way with a sickening scrape, the metal fixing breaking apart from the brickwork, sending both men over the side of the building.

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	8. Chapter 8

Blaine grasped on to the ledge by just the tips of his fingers.

In the confusion and terror of the fall Blaine had been lucky to have the presence of mind to grab on to anything at all, his hands sliding against brickwork and the concrete ledge as he tumbled over the edge. His hands had acted on instinct, grasping on before Blaine could realize he was going to fall, saving his life.

He grunted with the effort of holding on, trying to move his hands so he could get a more secure grip on the ledge and pull himself up to safety. But his hands were slick with sweat from the terror and exertion of the last few minutes and they couldn't find purchase against the smooth concrete.

He kicked his legs, scraping his shoes against the side of the building, searching desperately for a foothold, but there was none to find.

From the corner of his eye, in the very edge of his peripheral vision, he could see the sheer drop below him, the fall of over thirty stories down to the hard sidewalk. People walked about below, tiny as ants, oblivious to the drama occurring above them.

Fear clenched in his stomach and he screwed his eyes shut tightly, as if he could shut out the inevitability of the situation he was in. He couldn't get a good enough grip to pull himself up and there was nothing below him but certain death.

He cried out as he felt something grab hold of his ankle, yanking the ledge further out of his feeble grasp.

Blaine looked down over his shoulder, swearing as he saw Jack dangling below him, hanging on to the railing that had given way to their fighting. The railing was dangling from a string of fairy lights that had decorated the patio. It wasn't very secure but Jack was in a safer position than Blaine was for the moment.

'Come on Blaine.' Jack panted with the effort of holding on. Blaine was just barely in Jack's reach, the latter grasping on to Blaine's leg by just the tips of his fingers. 'Just let go and it will all be over before you know it.'

'I don't want to let go.' Blaine grunted. 'You've taken away enough of my life already, I'm not going to let you end it.'

Jack laughed bitterly. 'You won't have much choice in a second.' He gave a firm tug on Blaine's leg and Blaine could feel the ledge disappear from beneath his finger tips.

The world lurched for a terrible second, the security of the building vanishing and replaced with an overwhelming feeling of helplessness and he shut his eyes as he began to fall.

But he wasn't falling. There was no rush of wind or plummeting sensation, Blaine realised. There was nothing.

He opened his eyes, looking straight into Kurt's eyes locked with his from over the side of the building, wide with fear and panic. It was only then that he registered the hand gripping him tightly around the wrist.

'Blaine!' Kurt gasped, holding on as tightly as he could. Blaine could see the pain on Kurt's face, his lips were drawn and his complexion was deathly white.

'Kurt!' Blaine reached up with his other hand, grabbing on to Kurt's arm and pulling himself up with Kurt's help.

Kurt cried out with the effort and as Blaine caught hold of the ledge with his foot he noticed the bright red stain blossoming on the front of Kurt's shirt.

With one final tug Kurt pulled Blaine onto the rooftop, lying back on the patio as Blaine collapsed on top of him, panting heavily.

Blaine's hands were shaking from the adrenaline rushing around his system and his legs refused to obey him. He heard Kurt groan in pain underneath and, with a lot of effort, managed to roll off of him.

'Oh my God Kurt, are you ok? When he shot you I thought you were dead.' Blaine said, his voice shaking.

'He hit my shoulder.' Kurt grimaced, trying to sit up. Blaine reached over to help him, inspecting the bloody bullet hole in his shirt. He felt his stomach twist as he realised it was probably only half an inch away from Kurt's lung. He had been lucky.

Kurt pushed himself on to his knees and made his way to the edge of the roof again.

'Come on, we need to get him up.'

Blaine could hear the shouts of the man still dangling from the rooftop but his mind took a moment to comprehend what Kurt was saying.

'We're going to help him? Kurt he was trying to kill us!' Blaine's jaw dropped

'I know, but I can't honestly sit back and let someone die when there's something I could have done, no matter how bad that person is.'

Kurt reached out with his good arm and began to pull one handed at the wire holding the railing.

Blaine hesitated but followed Kurt. He knew Kurt was right. He didn't want to suffer this man to live, but at the same time he knew, deep down, he just couldn't be the reason he died. Besides, he wanted this man to be held accountable for his part in this whole affair; death was too easy a way out.

Blaine took hold of the wire, his hands still shaking with adrenaline, and helped Kurt pull. The wire scraped against the concrete ledge as it inched its way up.

'The wire's not going to hold, you need to help me up.' Jack called. Blaine glanced over the ledge and saw that he wasn't too far out of their reach now. He felt angry for a moment that Jack was asking anything from them after what he had just done.

His eyes flickered past Jack for a second, once again noticing the sheer drop below. The world lurched and he felt dizzy as vertigo hit. He swayed where he knelt, his fingers losing their grip on the wire and it began to slide out of his grasp.

Kurt cried out and Jack swore as the railing began to plummet, but Blaine came to his senses and tightened his grip again, pulling sharply on the wire to bring Jack closer to the ledge.

'Here, take my hand.' Kurt leaned as far over the ledge as he could, reaching out with his uninjured arm. Blaine felt his stomach turn as he saw how far Kurt was leaning over, teetering on the edge and so close to the fate that was almost his.

Blaine pulled the wire closer to the ledge, letting the concrete take most of the slack as he let go with one hand, using it to grab on to Kurt's belt and keep him safe.

He watched as Jack swung one hand up, trying to catch Kurt's and haul himself to safety as Blaine had done mere minutes ago, but the rest happened in slow motion.

The part of the string of lights that had wrapped around the railing, keeping it secured against the building, began to unravel.

Jack's eyes widened in terror as he saw the railing begin to fall away from the wire. Making one last desperate grab for Kurt's hand, his fingertips barely brushing against Kurt's before he and the railing plummeted towards the ground.

Kurt cried out, still reaching out as Jack fell. Blaine pulled Kurt back from the edge and they both watched as he fell, his arms flailing in the air, trying to grasp hold of something that wasn't there.

In the last few seconds Blaine turned Kurt's head, making him face away from the scene.

'Don't look.' He whispered in Kurt's ear, feeling Kurt tremble against him. But Blaine had to look, he had to see this, he had to make sure it was all over. He leaned over the edge of the building, watching the scene like a stone gargoyle, set there to watch the world of the mortals below.

Jack landed against the solid ground, his body jerking as it splayed out on the sidewalk. Blaine could hear the screams of the people down below as they saw him hit the ground.

A whimper from Kurt pulled him back and he collapsed against the cold stone patio, panting and shaking from the terror and exertions of the last few minutes.

'Is he dead?' Kurt whispered.

'I should think so.' Blaine replied. Strangely he didn't feel any guilt over the man's death. They had tried to help and in the end he had gotten what he deserved. In a way Blaine felt a little justified, though he didn't think he would be sharing that feeling with Kurt any time soon.

Blaine heard Kurt cry out in pain as he tried to sit up. The sound served to bring the gravity of the situation screaming back to him.

'Oh God Kurt, your shoulder.' He sat up, ignoring the way the world span around him, and reached out to Kurt.

'I'm fine, it just really hurts.' Kurt grimaced.

'Come on, let's get you inside.' He stood up and reached a hand down to help Kurt up, but his legs were still shaking from the adrenaline and as soon as he tried to take Kurt's weight he fell back down to the floor.

'Shit, sorry, I don't think I'm going to be much help here.' Blaine frowned, placing on hand on his leg to try and stop the limb from shaking.

'Its fine, come here, we'll help each other.'

Together they managed to stumble back into the penthouse apartment and over to the couch. Blaine made Kurt lie down on the couch as he sank to the floor, pressing his hand down against the bullet wound, trying to compress the flow of blood that was beginning to scare Blaine.

'We need to call you an ambulance.' Blaine said, watching blood seep in between his fingers.

'We need to call the police.' Kurt replied, his voice beginning to grow thin and quiet.

'Someone will have called the police for him.' Blaine jerked his head towards the patio, indicating the man currently sprawled thirty stories below. 'You're bleeding a lot now, we need to get you to the hospital, and then we can tell the police everything.'

Kurt nodded, he was looking a lot paler now and Blaine could see his eyelids fluttering. Panic started to flare in his stomach as he realised how injured Kurt was.

'Kurt, hold on, we'll get you to the hospital, they can fix you, it'll be fine.'

'Blaine...' Kurt whispered, holding out his hand to him. Blaine took it, entwining his fingers between Kurt's.

'It'll be ok Kurt, just hold on, please! I can't lose you Kurt, not when I've only just found you.' Blaine pleaded.

Kurt's eyes fixed on his and he opened his mouth to respond. Whatever he was about to say was lost as he passed out.

Kurt's head felt fuzzy, as though it had been stuffed with cotton wool, and it took a lot of effort for him to open his eyes.

He stared up at the stark white ceiling above him, listening to the sounds around him. The sound of murmured voices and the steady beeping of machines alongside the sterile smell of disinfectant confirmed to Kurt that he was in hospital.

For a split second he panicked as he thought his dad was back in the hospital after another heart attack before reason settled in alongside a fuzzy feeling of pain in his shoulder and he realised he was the one in the hospital bed, not his dad.

The events of the day came flooding back to him: finding Wes so close to death, frantically trying to find Blaine, hiding out at Sugar's before being found, getting shot, watching from the floor as Blaine took a terrifying fall from the side of the building…

He felt a slight tickling sensation against his fingers and looked down to find Blaine resting his head on Kurt's bed, his mouth just inches away from Kurt's hand. Blaine's breath was tickling his finger tips as he slept.

Kurt smiled at the sight. Blaine looked so young and peaceful in his sleep, as if he didn't have a care in the world. He lifted his hand to entwine it in Blaine's dark curls, enjoying their softness as he gently stroked his hair.

Blaine woke slowly at the sensation, looking up to see Kurt awake and sitting up, wiping away the drool on his chin.

'You're awake.' Blaine smiled, his whole face lighting up.

'Uh huh, how long was I out?' Kurt asked, his words slurring together as he still struggled to wake up.

'About twelve hours. They removed the bullet from your shoulder. They said you were really lucky it didn't hit any lower or it would have hit your lung. But it was mostly blood loss they were worried about, they gave you a transfusion and said you should be ok, and you are, you're awake.' Blaine said in an excited rush, grabbing hold of Kurt's hand and squeezing tightly.

'How did you get me here?'

'I think seeing you pass out made my legs work again; I carried out downstairs and out of the side door to avoid the commotion on the street. I got a cab to take us to the hospital and when we got here I used your phone to call Rachel, I thought she would be better to call your family.' He nodded his head towards the other side of Kurt's bed and Kurt looked over.

Rachel was asleep in the corner of the room in one of the chairs, her head resting on her shoulder and her mouth hanging open as she slept.

'They're on their way.' Blaine assured him. 'They should probably be here soon.'

'And what about the police?' Kurt felt like he had missed out on so much since passing out, there was so much to ask.

Blaine let out a deep breath. 'I told them everything, I told them there was information on the computer at the apartment that would explain things and after what happened with Dr. Montgomery I think they believed me. They're going to come by with more questions later but they don't seem to think we were to blame for Jack's death.'

'Wes! Oh my God is he ok?'

'I asked, the doctors wouldn't give me much information but they said if he made it through the night he might pull through. He's still alive this morning so hopefully that means he'll be ok.'

Kurt sighed with relief. 'Thank God. He saved our lives with that warning Blaine.'

'My life.' Blaine replied. 'You were never in danger Kurt; you could have just left me.'

Kurt shook his head. 'No I couldn't Blaine, I-'

'Kurt! You're awake!' Rachel cried out, rushing over to Kurt's bedside and taking his other hand. 'I was so worried about you.'

'I'm fine Rachel.' Kurt grinned, trying his best not to let yet another interruption bother him.

'Your family are on their way Kurt, they flew in as soon as I told them, Finn had only just landed in Ohio, he waited at the airport and met your parents there. You didn't tell me Finn was back.'

'Haven't had the time Rachel, been a bit busy getting shot.' Kurt frowned.

'Oh right.' Rachel grinned sheepishly. Her phone started to buzz in her pocket and she looked down at the screen, reading the message.

'Kurt, your family's downstairs, I'm going to go down and meet them and show them where you are.' Rachel said, disappearing out of the room.

'Um, I'd better go.' Blaine said biting his lip. 'Give you some time with your family.'

Kurt nodded, taking hold of Blaine's hand as he turned to leave.

'Before you go, I just want to say thank you Blaine.' Kurt smiled, rubbing his thumb along Blaine's knuckles. 'For getting me to the hospital, you saved my life.'

Blaine stared down at him incredulously.

'Thank me? Kurt, you've saved my life so many times in the last twenty four hours, we haven't even known each other for that long. I don't even know what to say.'

'Well, what can I say? I couldn't bear to lose you, not when I've only just found you.' Kurt smiled, reaching up to cup Blaine's face as he imitated the last words he had heard Blaine say back in the penthouse apartment.

Blaine blushed, ducking his head. 'I didn't think you heard that.'

'I heard it.' Kurt whispered, reaching his hand around to the back of Blaine's neck and pulling him forward until their lips touched. Blaine reached up to cup Kurt's cheek, turning his head slightly so he could deepen the kiss, earning a small moan from Kurt as he did.

'Maybe we should come back.' Kurt heard his dad's voice from the door. He found it hard to care that his family were right outside, not when Blaine's lips felt so right against his own, not when Blaine tasted _so_ good.

Some moments later, when Kurt's head felt light from more than just the painkiller's, he felt Blaine pull back.

He opened his eyes and saw Blaine grinning above him.

'Wow.' Blaine whispered.

'Uh huh.' Kurt smiled back. Blaine brushed his nose against Kurt's before placing one more quick kiss against his lips and sitting back.

'I should really go, your dad's outside, I don't think he'd like me being here.' Blaine looked down at his hands, picking at a nail distractedly.

Kurt frowned, he saw genuine fear and concern in Blaine's eyes and he suddenly realised that Blaine obviously would be concerned about Kurt's dad, especially after the way his own father regarded homosexuals.

'Blaine he's ok, he's fine with me being gay, he won't do anything to you, I promise.' Kurt assured him.

Blaine smiled. 'You're lucky then, to have such an understanding father.'

Kurt nodded. Even though time had changed from what Blaine knew he still knew that in this day and age he was lucky to have a dad who embraced who he was.

'Still, I think I'd better leave you with your family.' Blaine stood up. 'What are you going to tell them? About last night I mean?'

Kurt blinked and wet his lips with his tongue, taking a moment to fully consider his options. He really didn't want to tell his family the true story filled with conspiracies, drug smugglers and someone hunting them down. It was too scary and they would worry, he couldn't put them through that.

'I'll tell them we were at Sugar's picking up some clothes for her and someone tried to rob the place. We were just in the wrong place at the wrong time, that's all.' Kurt said at last.

Blaine nodded. 'That sounds pretty believable.'

'More believable than the truth.' Kurt giggled, his head felt light from the painkillers and the situation was beginning to feel a little ludicrous.

'Yeah.'

'Have Rachel call Nick and Jeff to come and get you, I don't think you should be on your own. We don't know if it's all over yet.'

Blaine frowned. 'You think there might still be people out there trying to get me?'

'Maybe, it was a big operation. I don't think this is all over yet. But make sure you keep in contact with the police, I don't want to put Nick and Jeff in danger.'

'I will.' Blaine promised solemnly. 'Now I think I'd better let your dad in before he kicks me out.'

Kurt grabbed his hand once more, pulling him down for another kiss; this one more heated than the sensual one before.

Blaine pulled back, licking his lips slowly as he looked down at Kurt. 'You're making it really hard to leave Kurt.' He chuckled, his voice low and thick.

'I'm just giving you an incentive to come back.' Kurt winked at him.

'If you think I'm going to stay away you're crazy.' Blaine laughed. 'I promise, I'll come back and see you, and when you're out of hospital I can come and look after you, keep you company while you recuperate.'

'I'll call you later Blaine.' Kurt promised, watching Blaine step out into the hallway.

Through the open door Kurt could see his dad start to say something to Blaine, but Rachel grabbed Blaine's arm and began to walk off with him, waving Burt into Kurt's room as she did so. Kurt smiled, Rachel did have her uses.

Burt rushed into the room, wrapping his arms around his son as soon as he reached the bed.

'Kurt, I was so worried about you.' He mumbled into Kurt's shoulder.

'I'm fine Dad.' Kurt assured him. 'I feel a bit woozy from the painkillers but I'm ok, I promise. You didn't need to fly in.'

'My son's been shot, where do you expect me to be?'

Finally Burt let him go, sitting down in the chair Blaine had been in as Carole and Finn came in to the room, shutting the door behind them.

'I'm so glad you're ok sweetheart.' Carole smiled at him. 'Who was that?' She nodded her head towards the door and Kurt grinned. He knew it wouldn't take her long to ask about Blaine.

'Just... someone.' Kurt said, feeling sleep creeping up on him, too tired to even try to explain Blaine to them.

'Must be quite a someone.' She replied.

Kurt blinked sleepily.

'Yeah, he is.'

_**I'm hoping the kiss makes up for ending the last couple of chapters on a cliffhanger!**_

_**Comments are love 3 Please let me know what you think!**_


	9. Chapter 9

Blaine nestled his head in his arms as he rested against the table, trying to block out everything but the melodic crooning of Elvis from the record player.

In the few days Blaine had been awake in this new age he had listened to a lot of music, through YouTube or Kurt's iPod, but none of them could even compare to the record player. The subtle cracking of the needle stroking over vinyl added something to the listening experience the others just never could.

He screwed his eyes shut and thought back over last couple of days; finding out why he had been frozen, being held at gun point, Kurt getting shot and the terrifying fall over the side of the building that had almost ended his life.

But the thing that kept coming back to him, through all the terror and confusion, was the moment that happened almost twenty four hours ago, before Nick and Jeff came to pick him up and take him to the record shop.

_Kurt had kissed him._

He had spent all night in the hospital, answering the multitude of questions the police asked him before sitting by Kurt's bedside.

He had watched Kurt sleep, the gentle rise and fall of his chest while the machines beeping around him reassuring him that Kurt was still alive. He didn't think he could have coped with the guilt if Kurt had died because of him.

He had spent those hours gazing at Kurt's lips, wondering what they felt like, how he would taste and if they would feel as soft as they looked against his own.

He had never imagined he would get the chance to find out, and certainly not so soon. He had thought the moment the door of the apartment had been broken in that all romantic thoughts had been permanently wiped from Kurt's mind.

But Kurt had pulled him in; he had repeated Blaine's words from the night before and kissed him firmly. It was so perfect Blaine had spent the cab ride to the record store wondering if it was even real, the lingering taste of Kurt on his lips the only confirmation.

That had been yesterday, the last time Blaine had seen him. Kurt had spent all day in the hospital and Rachel had text him in the evening to say that his family were taking him back to his apartment and that he could visit the next afternoon if he wanted.

He had spent all the time he could in the record store with Nick and Jeff, too distracted by thoughts of Kurt to answer their concerned questions.

It was the longest he had been apart from Kurt since they had met and Blaine felt his heart ache from being away from him. But he stayed away; he knew Kurt needed to be with his family.

Besides, part of him worried, now that the painkillers had worn off whether Kurt even want him around when he realised or remembered Blaine was the cause of the drama and pain in his life recently.

He was pulled from his thoughts as the front door jingled, alerting everyone in the shop to the presence of a customer. He didn't look up, Jeff and Nick would deal with them.

'Hey squirt.'

Blaine sat up, coming face to face with his brother. The difference in his age still jarred Blaine slightly, but not as much as the last time.

'Cooper.' He grinned. 'What are you doing here?' He wondered for a moment if he had heard about what had happened before dismissing it, there was no way for him to know.

'Mom and Dad have flown in, they want to see you.'

**XxXxXxXx**

Blaine stared at the two people in front of him. If seeing Cooper aged was jarring it was nothing compared to seeing his parents like this.

He watched as his mother reached her cup, her hands were wrinkled and stiff with arthritis. The few grey hairs that had decorated her hair when he had left for New York were now the only colour left and her eyes that had once been quite a vibrant bronze were now dull and a little milky.

His father was a few years older than his mother, and looked just as different then when Blaine had left. He had no hair left at all where once it had been in abundance. His hands were liver spotted and he seemed to have a permanent tremor in one hand.

'I still can't believe it's you.' His mother said tearfully for the fourteenth time in the hour since they had been reunited, reaching out to stroke her hand lovingly down the side of Blaine face.

Blaine felt the same way; he could hardly believe these were his parents. He had thought they were old back in the seventies, as most children thought of their parents. But looking at them now Blaine could see they were no longer just old, they were elderly. They were grandparents now, old enough to be great grandparents if Cooper's son Blaine had children young.

'I know.' Blaine said once more in response to that. Cooper had explained that their mother had Alzheimer's and couldn't really remember much. She remembered her youth clearly, but anything recent was likely to be lost to her. It made the situation more confusing with Blaine's appearance; she kept thinking it was still the 70s, or early 80s, and was constantly apologising for pushing him away, forcing him to run away from the family. It was clear she had blamed herself for his disappearance for a while at least.

Blaine had felt less emotional being reunited with his parents than he had with Cooper. He loved his parent's, there was no doubt about that, but something just felt off. He didn't think his mother understood what was happening and as for his father, Blaine couldn't shake off a feeling that he knew more than he was letting on.

'Please excuse me darling, I need to use the ladies.' His mother said, placing both hands on the side of her chair and struggling to get up. Cooper got up from his own chair next to Blaine and helped her up, holding on to her as they walked towards the cafe's restrooms.

Blaine looked at his father square in the eyes. Now that they were alone he wanted to- needed to- ask him the truth.

'You don't seem all that surprised by all of this father.' Blaine said with a clenched jaw. He had suspected, from the very moment he had discovered the reason behind him being frozen, that there might have been more than just the drug gang involved in all of this.

His father looked away, not even able to look his son in the eye. Blaine stomach dropped.

He had suspected it but he had hoped it wasn't true. He honestly couldn't believe his own father would let something like that happen to him. It took everything he had not to let an anguished cry escape through his lips.

'Please don't tell me you knew about this.' Blaine said, his voice thick as tears of anger formed in his eyes.

'Blaine.' His father finally looked up at him, regret in his eyes. 'I had no choice.'

Blaine shook his head, blinking back the tears; he refused to let his father see him cry.

'I really had no choice Blaine. There were people in the company, bad people. They wanted to use it as a drug smuggling business and they wouldn't let anything stop them. They threatened to destroy the company if you weren't... taken care of.' His father had the decency to look away again as he said that.

'You chose your company over me?' Blaine asked through gritted teeth.

'No, no Blaine I didn't,' his father reached out to grasp Blaine's hands, finding only empty table in front of him, desperation in his eyes, 'I tried to reason with them but they were determined to get you out of the way. They threatened your mother and the family of the other board members. I tried to tell them you weren't interested in taking over the company, that's why I let you go to New York, I hoped it would make them realise. But they still wanted you gone.'

There was a long and uncomfortable pause between them.

'They came to me one night, a few days after you had gone to New York, they told me to put someone else in your position in the company and that they were going to kill you that night. I pleaded with them, begged them to find some other way of getting what they wanted. That's when they bought up the idea of freezing you.'

'You thought that freezing me was better than killing me?' Blaine said, his voice oddly emotionless.

'I thought it would be better for you. You'd be out of the way and the gang could do what they wanted. When it was all over and done with you would be woken up and be out of the way off all the drama and danger, able to live your life. I was _protecting_ you.'

Blaine didn't know how to react. His entire body felt numb with the information.

'Blaine.' His father said, pleading with his son to understand. But Blaine couldn't. He got up from his chair and headed over to the door, leaving his father sitting alone at the table.

**XxXxXxX**

'Oh hi Blaine.' Rachel smiled at him as she opened the door. 'Kurt's seeing his family off at the airport.' She frowned at him. 'You look awful.'

Blaine felt awful. His head was pounding and he honestly couldn't remember even walking to Kurt's apartment. His feet had brought him here out of instinct, taking him to the place he wanted to be the most, with Kurt.

'Um, is it ok if I come in and wait?' Blaine asked, shocked to find his voice rough. He wondered if he had been crying on the way over.

'Sure, of course it is.' She said, opening the door for him and letting him in. 'Do you want to go and have a lay down?'

'I think I do.' Blaine said. Rachel pointed out Kurt's bedroom to him and he kicked off his shoes, lying down on the soft mattress gratefully. His head was pounding and all of the stress and emotion was making him feel sick. He just wanted to sleep.

He buried his head in Kurt's pillow as Rachel left him alone. Tears pricked at his eyes, eventually escaping and wetting the pillow in silent tears as he inhaled the comforting scent of Kurt and fell into an exhausted sleep.

I'm fine I'm fine I'm fine _I'm fine_!' Kurt insisted, swatting away his father's attempt to help him through an already opened door as they walked through the airport. 'It's just a hurt shoulder. The sling is there to minimise movement, that's all.'

'That's all? Kurt you have a gunshot wound, it's serious.' Burt frowned, standing on Kurt's injured side to stop anyone from jostling his son.

'And it could have been a whole lot worse; I just have to be careful of the stitches.' Kurt smiled reassuringly.

Burt sighed heavily, concern showing in his eyes.

'Are you sure you don't want me to stay, I can take a few more days off.'

Kurt shook his head. 'No you can't, you're a congressman, you own a business, your step son has just returned from a war zone for crying out loud! You don't have time to take care of someone who doesn't need taking care of.'

'You're my son Kurt, if you need me I'll be there.'

'I know Dad, but seriously, I'm fine and I have Rachel to smother me, I mean, care for me.'

Burt's lips twitched and he finally relented, pulling his son into a tight hug while minding his shoulder.

'Call me if you need anything kid ok? Absolutely anything.'

'I will Dad, I promise.' Kurt sniffed, feeling a little emotional at all the attention he was getting from his family. He wondered if the strong painkillers from the hospital were really out of his system yet.

'I would have preferred it if Rachel had been here to see you home ok though.' Burt added as they broke apart.

'She's rehearsing, if she'd have come you would have had a cab ride of her singing Phantom of the Opera and trying to tap dance on the baggage carousel.'

'Maybe you're right, just give me a text to let me know you're home safe ok?'

'Will do.' Kurt promised, turning to Carole to give her a hug too. 'Thank you for coming down Carole, I've missed you.'

'I've missed you too Kurt, come and visit soon.' She said, leaning in closer and adding in a whisper. 'And make sure you let me know how it's going with that boy, he was cute.' They broke apart with a giggle, making Finn and Burt frown as they wondered what was going on.

'Bye Finn.' Kurt said, wrapping his brother into a hug. He had missed Finn while he had been deployed, spending every day worrying about his safety in a war zone. The relief he had felt seeing him outside his apartment a couple of days ago had been more than anything he had felt before.

'See ya Kurt. Give me a few weeks at home, let me settle in a bit and I'll come back for a proper visit, yeah?'

'Sounds good to me.' Kurt grinned, laughing as Finn lifted him off the ground again.

Kurt watched as his family walked towards the ticket counter, feeling his heart clench. He was happy in New York but every time he saw his family it made him realise just how much he missed them every day. It was always so hard to leave them again.

'Dad.' He called, waiting for his father to come back over to him as Finn and Carole sorted out their carry ons.

'What is it kid?'

Kurt took a deep breath, gearing up to ask something he had been wondering over the last week.

'Dad, do you think you can fall in love with someone you've only just met?'

'Are we talking about the man who was kissing you when you were drugged up?' Burt teased.

'_I_ kissed _him_ Dad.' Kurt insisted with a grin. 'But yeah, him. I really like him, I feel the same way about him as I did with Kieran, but it took so much longer to get there with him. I'm worried this is all a bit too soon.'

Burt sighed and rubbed his hand over the back of his neck.

'Well kid if you really like him then maybe it isn't too crazy. It does happen after all. Just mind yourself ok? I don't want to see anyone hurt you the way Kieran did.'

'I know.' Kurt nodded. He was careful to guard his heart after what Kieran had done to him, but he couldn't help but feel that Blaine had so much more to lose than he did.

'And for what it's worth, on my second date with your mother I knew I was going to marry her one day.'

Kurt smiled, feeling the warmth return to his chest as he was reassured.

'Thanks Dad.'

**XxXxXxXxXx**

Blaine's dreams were full of images of the people he knew and loved from his former life peering at him from outside a glass tube. He screamed and banged against the glass, trying to get someone to help him, to rescue him from his frozen prison, but each person looked at him mournfully before moving on.

'Shh, it's ok Blaine, I've got you.'

The soft, beautiful voice broke through his dreams, calming him and bringing him back to consciousness.

He was wrapped up in Kurt's arms being rocked back and forth gently. He blinked and shifted in Kurt's grasp.

'Oh you're awake.' Kurt smiled. 'You were having a nightmare.'

'Oh.' Blaine said, resting his head against Kurt's chest.

'Is everything ok?'

'No.' Blaine answered. Kurt didn't push him, understanding that Blaine was feeling overwhelmed.

'My family have gone home now; you're welcome to stay over if you want.'

Blaine nodded gratefully, still not saying anything.

'Oh, and I stopped by the hospital on the way back, Wes is doing fine, they say he's going to pull through. I wasn't allowed to see him but I spoke to his mother.'

'That's good.' Blaine said, feeling honestly relieved that at least someone who had been trying to protect Blaine was going to be alright. There didn't seem to be that many people on his side anymore.

They sat on Kurt's bed in silence for a while before Blaine spoke up.

'I saw my parent's today.'

He retold the events of that afternoon to Kurt, this time not holding back the tears of betrayal.

Kurt breathed deeply, trying to calm his own anger and holding Blaine a little tighter to his chest.

'God Blaine, I'm so sorry,' he whispered thickly into Blaine's hair. 'I don't know how I would deal with this if the same happened to me, but I think your father cares about you, even if it doesn't sound like it, Blaine. He didn't want you killed. It sounds like he genuinely believed you'd be better off like this... somehow.'

'I think it sounds like one more way he was choosing his company over me.' Blaine said bitterly.

'I know.' Kurt said.

They lay in silence once more until they both drifted off to sleep.

**XxXxXxXx**

Blaine woke up feeling completely disorientated. He could no longer feel the soft blankets from Kurt's bed underneath him, he could no longer feel Kurt's break gently tickling his ear, nothing.

Instead, underneath him, was a hard, cold table.

He tried to open his eyes, but his eyelids felt so heavy it became too much of an effort. He could feel something around his wrist, something cold and hard digging into his skin. He twitched his arm, all that he found he was able to manage, but the band around his wrist was pinning him down.

His heart began to thump in his chest as he realised something was wrong, very wrong. With a renewed effort he prised his eyes open, the light of the room hurting it was so bright.

Dread filled his stomach as he realised where he was. The machines and apparatus around him were familiar, the same tolls that had been used the last time he had been laid out on a cold, hard table.

'Now then Mr. Anderson, you should stay asleep.' A cold voice above him said. Blaine moved his head to try and see who was speaking, but he barely managed to roll his eyes up.

'Wh- m eh?' Blaine slurred, his tongue refusing to work properly.

'In the place you should have been all along.' The person speaking moved into view, a middle aged woman with red hair tightly curled and thick, black rimmed glasses. She was wearing a familiar white lab coat, confirming to Blaine that he was in fact back in a laboratory.

'This is the lab we were planning to bring you to after the old one got taken over. Unfortunately the people in charge were dragging their feet over it all and you were found before we could remove you. Not worry, you're here now.' She sounded as if they were having a normal conversation about the situation over coffee instead of in the horrifying surroundings.

'No.' He whimpered pitifully, trying to wrench him arms free from where they were strapped to the table but the drugs in his system made his efforts feeble.

'No point in struggling now.' The woman said, her voice firm and harsh, like every strict teach Blaine had ever had. 'There isn't anything you can do. One small injection and you'll be placed back in the cryogenic chamber. You'll be woken when we feel you are no longer a threat and it'll be like no time has passed at all.'

Blaine felt tears prickling at his eyes. He wanted to jump up, to scream that he wasn't a threat to them! He had never wanted any part of his father's business, they could carry on whatever sordid schemes they wanted, he didn't care, he just wanted to be free, to live his life the way he wanted to. They didn't need to make him a part of all of this. He wanted _Kurt_.

Despair washed over him as he realised the severity of the situation. God knows when they would wake him up again. Maybe when all the people involved were dead a gone perhaps? But Blaine reckoned that could be years from now.

The world would carry on without him and he would awake in another strange time where everything was different and the people he loved had moved on.

He gulped involuntarily.

By the time they woke him up again everyone he knew could be dead. He thought about his parents, so old now already, about Cooper and all the friends he hadn't even had the chance to be reunited with yet. They were already in the later years of their life, if he was kept frozen again for a long time they would probably be dead when he awoke.

And Kurt.

Kurt was still young but Blaine didn't think he'd wait. He had his whole life to live and he wouldn't spend it waiting around for someone he knew a few days to come back to him. He had finally found someone he really cared about, and who cared about him, and he was going to lose him already.

'Urt.' Blaine mumbled, screwing his eyes shut in pain at the thought.

'Oh.' The woman smiled, the lines creasing at her eyes at the corners or her mouth showing her age. 'Don't you worry about your little friend, he's right here with you.' She reached down to gently raise Blaine's head, allowing him to see what was at the other end of the lab.

Blaine was struck by terror as he caught sight of Kurt, lying motionless in the casket like contraption made from metal and glass. His eyes were closed and Blaine could almost believe he was sleeping, if it wasn't for the bluish tinge on his face from the ice covering the glass.

Blaine chocked back the tears, they couldn't do this to Kurt, he had a family who loved him, he didn't deserve any of this.

'He'll be fine.' The woman said, misinterpreting Blaine's distress. 'And now you'll have a friend to wake up with you.' She added cheerfully. But the thought of Kurt still being there didn't please Blaine at all, the guilt of being the reason he was here at all was almost overwhelming.

From the corner of his eye he saw the woman prepare a needle, moving over to a drip that had been placed in Blaine's arm.

'Now I'm sure you remember all of this, it was only a few days ago to you wasn't it? Oh, it would have been so much easier to have you all killed, dead bodies are so much easier to hide than live ones. But a promise is a promise and they'll keep you frozen' She stuck the needle into the end of the drip and placed her thumb on the plunger.

'P-lice.' Blaine slurred. They had told the police everything, the truth was out there; surely they couldn't just take him away again? People knew about the situation already.

'Oh them.' The woman smiled. 'Don't you worry about them, police are so easily bribed. All that information your Doctor compiled will magically disappear, just like you two will. And it would have been even easier if that little hot-headed son of the gang leader hadn't come along and almost ruined everything!'

Blaine screwed his eyes shut, as if he could block out the whole situation. The hardest part of it was that his father knew all about this, he knew and he let it happen. He was more interested in his business than his own son.

She looked back down at the needle in her hand and pushed down on the plunger. Almost instantly Blaine could feel his limbs become even heavier as the drug swept through his veins.

'Sweet dreams Blaine.' She whispered as everything went black.

**Comments are love 3 Please let me know what you think!**


	10. Chapter 10

_**I apologise for the lack of Klaine in this chapter, I promise the next chapter will make up for it ;)**_

_**Thank you for all your lovely comments! I'm glad you're enjoying it!**_

The darkness of the night closed in over Seattle as Cooper Anderson gazed out of the window. He stood in a grand study of a man he hadn't met, but had come thousands of miles to meet.

He had received a message early that morning that this man had information about his brother's whereabouts along with instructions to fly into Seattle at once and speak with him.

There had been no other way to contact this man and the secretive way the message had been delivered had intrigued Cooper.

He had his reservations about this meeting, sure, but all that he had learnt from his brother's second disappearance had told him that anyone who was willing to give information definitely wasn't involved in the kidnapping.

He had endured over thirty six years of grief and torment over his missing brother and after having Blaine back for only a few days he found himself back in the same position.

Snakes of rain wriggled down the tall windows as Cooper watched the cityscape spread out beneath the window his mind whirring with everything that had happened over the last four months.

From the moment he had returned to their table in the cafe and found his father sitting there alone he knew something had been wrong. His father had told him Blaine had felt overwhelmed by their meeting and had left. Cooper had had no reason to doubt him, Blaine had been acting a little strangely, but he had immediately felt unsettled.

During the thirty six years of Blaine's disappearance Cooper had never once suspected that their father had any involvement in it. Despite their differences he knew their father loved Blaine, he would never do anything to hurt him.

But after that day, after seeing the look of guilt that his father was trying so hard to mask, Cooper wasn't so sure he hadn't been involved, even if it was only in some small way.

Barbed forks of lightning filled the sky, great flashes that made the shadows in the half dark study jump around as if they had lives of their own. In the flashes of light Cooper caught sight of Burt Hummel's troubled expression.

He had gotten to know the man quite well in the last four months, the sudden disappearance of their loved ones at the same time bringing them into each other's lives. He knew Burt loved his son and the pain of losing him and not knowing what had happened to him was etched deeply in his features.

Cooper rested his head against the cool pane of the rain soaked window and thought back to the evening four months before when he had learned his little brother had disappeared once again.

_**XxXxX**_

_After seeing his parents back to the hotel they were staying in while in America Cooper went to speak to Blaine, to find out why he had left the cafe in such a hurry, to find out what had upset him. But when he reached the address Kurt had given him when they first met he found the front door to Blaine's apartment had been knocked off its hinges._

_Nothing in the apartment seemed to be missing but it was quite obvious that Blaine hadn't been staying there the last couple of nights. _

_He went to the record store, catching the two owners just as it was closing. They told him that they hadn't seen Blaine since Cooper had come to speak to him earlier in the day, but they gave him Kurt's address, sure that he would be there._

_When he reached Kurt Hummel's apartment he found the door unlocked and after no one responded to his knocking he let himself in. The apartment was quiet and empty, but something felt off to Cooper. He searched the rooms, looking for some sign that Blaine might have been there recently. _

_It was only after he looked in the second bedroom that he found anything. _

_He noticed the phone Blaine had been given lying on the ruffled sheets on the bed, next to another phone and a wallet. They belonged to Kurt. They had definitely been there. _

_Cooper was left unsettled, no one Kurt's age would go out without their phone these days, his own son was about Kurt's age and it never left his hand. _

_He was about to leave, deliberating whether to write a note asking Blaine to call him, figuring they might just be out for a walk, when something on the bed caught his eye._

_It was a rag of cloth, nothing to conspicuous but enough so to catch Cooper's attention. He lifted it up from where it was half concealed by an out of place pillow. Before he even brought it near his face he could smell the chemicals emitting from it. _

_He recognized the smell of chloroform; he prided himself on being a method actor after all, and dropped the rag in shock._

_His heart had begun to pound in his chest as he realised what was going on. Someone had taken his brother – again. _

_**XxXxXx**_

Burt shifted slightly in his chair, the movement pulling Cooper from his thoughts and back to the man sitting stiffly in the chair, waiting for their mysterious host to arrive.

It wasn't just his brother who was taken, Kurt obviously had been too. Cooper just couldn't figure out why. Kurt obviously couldn't be involved in the whole matter, it all started out before he was even born.

But maybe Kurt had discovered something? Maybe by being so close to Blaine the people behind all of this had decided Kurt was now involved and that he needed to be taken too.

Cooper had contacted the police straight away of course; they had called Burt who had immediately caught the next flight out to New York. Burt had only just landed in Ohio after leaving New York.

The police were concerned and they did their job but they were never going to get very far. Cooper and Burt took it upon themselves to find out what had happened to Kurt and Blaine.

'Do you think this man knows about what was on the memory card?' Cooper asked, not really expecting much of an answer. Burt hadn't been in a talkative mood during the whole journey, clearly becoming frustrated with the amount of dead ends they kept running in to.

'I think the only people who knew what was on that card are missing or dead.' Burt replied, not taking his eyes off of the mahogany table in front of him, as though if he stared at it long enough it would reveal the whereabouts of his missing son.

Cooper walked away from the tall windows and turned to the large oak bookshelves lining the room. Most of the books were medicine journals, of significant cases that set precendts and made medical history, or biographies of noted people in the medical profession.

The books, along with the grandeur of the home they were in, indicated to Cooper that the man they were meeting was very high up in his profession. He hoped that it meant he was in a position to help them.

They had been sitting in the study for half an hour already with no indication of when they would be seen, or who had requested them.

'Do you wish they had never met?' Cooper asked the question he had been wondering for the last four months. He had refrained from asking it, it bore no relevance to finding the boys and Burt had always seemed so emotionally involved in the search that he hadn't the heart to bring it up. But in the last month Burt had seemed to withdraw into himself, treating the search in a much more methodical way.

Cooper hoped it didn't mean the man was losing hope.

Burt smiled, although it didn't reach his eyes, and turned to Cooper.

'Kurt's always been special; unfortunately it means trouble usually finds him. That's why I don't think I was that surprised to learn he had falling for someone who had been frozen for thirty six years. But he's smart too; I think if he knew beforehand how big this was he would have stayed away.'

_Fallen for..._

So Cooper hadn't been imagining those looks passed between the two in the park. He had always wondered about his brother, he'd never seemed to have an enthusiasm for girls. The realisation was bittersweet. Cooper had spent a lot of time in California around actors, singers and dancers so sexuality didn't mean a lot to him. He just wanted his brother to be happy. The thought that he could have been happy – no _could be_ happy, Cooper tried to remind himself – was like a punch in the guts given the current situation.

'If he saw what was on that memory stick then I'd say he had a pretty good idea of how big this all is.' Cooper said.

_**XxXxXxXx**_

_As soon as he got back to New York, Burt told Cooper about the 'robbery' the pair had been caught up in before they went missing. He was furious with himself, insisting that he knew it was more than a robbery, that he should have stayed and taken better care of his son, as if this whole situation was his fault._

_The police didn't agree with him though, insisting that the robbery was probably just a robbery they got caught up in and as they didn't have any paperwork about the robbery they couldn't investigate that route. _

_So Cooper and Burt investigated it themselves. It wasn't too hard to get in to the Motta's apartment - no one was going to ask *the* Cooper Anderson whether the apartment he had been locked out of was actually his own, the locksmith had let him right in and the alarm was still broken seeing as the family was still on vacation. _

_The pair searched the apartment for anything suspicious but apart from a fallen railing outside that Cooper didn't want to think too much about they didn't find anything. _

_Not until Burt sat down on the couch, disturbing one of the decorative cushions. The movement caused a small object to fall onto the plush carpet at his feet. _

_Burt picked up the memory stick and they quickly found a computer. Together they searched through the files that Wes had compiled and the story began to fit together. In particular, it became clear they could not trust the police and they would have to investigate themselves. Especially since, when they went looking the next day, the one person who they thought could help, the one who had compiled the notes had vanished from the hospital he was being treated in. _

_**XxXxXxXx**_

The door opened and an older man walked in to the room, nodding at both Cooper and Burt before taking a seat at the ornate desk.

'What has happened to my son?' Burt demanded immediately. Cooper had learned quickly that Burt Hummel wouldn't prevaricate when his son's wellbeing was involved.

'I am sure he is quite safe for the time being Mr. Hummel, your brother too Mr. Anderson.' The man said, settling himself in his chair, not the least bit perturbed by Burt's abruptness.

'Who are you?' Cooper asked, taking the other chair in front of the man's desk.

'My name is Dr. Montgomery.' He answered, clasping his hands together in front of his and looking at the two men solemnly.

'And how are you involved in all of this? What information do you have?' Burt asked.

'My son was in charge of the lab where Blaine was found, Kurt worked directly with him. Wes is a good doctor and a good person, he did what he could to try and help these people, but I don't think he understood the situation. When he began to receive threats he should have come straight to me, I know a lot of people in a lot of places and I could have dealt with this, but he was scared.'

Dr. Montgomery paused for a moment, glancing back at the door he had just walked through.

'My son was very badly injured as a result of finding out these things. He woke briefly enough to explain everything to us and we decided to move him from the hospital immediately, for his own safety.'

'And not let anyone know you had taken him?' Burt interrupted.

'No, he's my son, I didn't need to let anyone else know where he was, that would only invite more danger to him, especially after what happened to your boys. I knew I could take better care of him here and he's been recovering well.'

'So why are you only just contacting us now?' Cooper asked.

'My son is damaged. He won't ever be able to use his hands in medicine again and his brain was very badly damaged too. He will not have future in medicine anymore.' He said sadly. 'Wes has always been very promising, he had a bright future in front of him and that's been snatched away from him. I want these people to be brought to account for what they have done.'

'And you didn't think to come forward sooner?' Burt asked angrily. 'My son is missing and-'

'Mr Hummel if I had acquired the information that I have now any earlier then I would have come to you earlier but it has only just come to light.' Dr. Montgomery said firmly. 'Wes's mind is healing well but it isn't always entirely there. If it were I think he would have remembered sooner and been able to help. As it is this information came about from a throwaway comment he muttered whilst half asleep.'

'Go on.' Cooper prompted.

'I believe they had a plan for when the lab was taken over, to move the people to another lab, it just wasn't executed in time and then they ran in to problems accessing the place where the people were hidden. Wes mentioned something about someone coming in to remove some equipment and that he wanted me to look over the details and make sure it was all legitimate.

I have been following up on this information and I think I have discovered where they were planning to move the people to.'

Cooper and Burt sat stiffly in their chairs, hardly daring to move, to hope that they might be closer to finding Kurt and Blaine.

'Gentlemen, I think I know where your boys are.'

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	11. Chapter 11

Blaine felt as though he was lying in the bottom of a deep, dark pit. Blackness surrounded him, giant walls of darkness pressing down, stifling any feelings or thoughts. Every part of his body felt so heavy, every limb weighing a tonne and refusing to move under any command.

He thought he heard voices somewhere, two people in conversation, but then they were gone.

Time passed. It could have been months, hours or merely seconds, Blaine couldn't tell, he had no concept of time in this black place. But the voices returned.

'The patient appears to be waking up, keep a note of his heart rate please.' A voice to the left of him said. The voice was calm and authoritative, but not one that Blaine recognized.

Gradually Blaine became more aware of his surroundings. He could sense the lights burning bright beyond his eyelids; he could hear the beeping of machines around him and feel a soft mattress underneath him.

Realization dawned on him and he remembered what had happened. He had volunteered for a scientific experiment to be frozen. He had needed the money to support himself and had been recommended by a friend.

The two weeks must be up, he thought. The experiment was over and he was waking up.

The darkness swallowed him again.

Images flashed in his mind, things that didn't make sense. He saw people he didn't recognize, a city that looked different and cars that looked sleeker. He remembered a computer small enough to fit in a pocket, Elvis playing out of a small square box and the face of a young man. The most beautiful young man Blaine had ever seen.

He felt someone take hold of his hand and start calling his name. It was the voice of an older man, one Blaine felt that he should recognize, but he didn't. Everything still felt too heavy to respond so Blaine ignored it.

The name _Kurt _kept echoing around his head, but that didn't make any sense to Blaine, he didn't know anyone called Kurt. The name felt familiar though, like an old memory, warm and comforting.

Everything began to swirl around in his head, his thoughts switching pace so rapidly Blaine had a hard time keeping track and became confused.

He remembered waking up before, he remembered the doctor treating him, he remembered the lab he woke up in and he remembered the lab assistant.

Kurt.

Kurt: the lab assistant who had taken care of him, who had taken him to Blaine's new home and stayed with him. Kurt, who had cared so much about him, who had been shot because of him and who had kissed him like he had never been kissed before.

But the memories were so fleeting, flashing in his mind for only a second before vanishing and leaving Blaine in doubt.

Had he really woken before? Had he met those people and done those things? He remembered busking in the park for a large crowd, playing his own songs for once, he remembered a rooftop struggle that almost ended in his death and he remembered falling for someone he had known for less than a week. That all seemed so unlike him.

He remembered feeling betrayed, discovering that he had been frozen and hidden as part of a plan to control his father's company, waking up to find thirty six years had passed and the world had gone on without him. He remembered discovering his father had known all about it.

It all seemed so absurd to him, things like that didn't really happen.

The darkness began to ease up once more and everything became so much lighter. He twitched his limbs, trying to get them to move, and once more felt someone grab his hand and call his name.

Had he dreamed all of that? Had his mind somehow been active while he was frozen and played out an adventure for him over the two weeks? Was that why Kurt seemed too good to be true?

'Blaine, come on Blaine wake up.'

Blaine forced his eyelids open, blinking in the bright lights. His head was pounding and his mouth felt too dry.

'Hey, that's it, wake up.'

Blaine turned his head to the side, trying to look at who was asking him to wake up as though it were the most important thing to them in the world. No one had known he was doing the experiment after all, and even if they did he didn't know anyone who would care that much about it.

A man sat by his bed, his face lighting up in to a huge grin when Blaine looked at him. He was an older man, in his early sixties with a greying beard and tired eyes, but Blaine recognized him immediately.

His brother had gotten old. He still looked as handsome as ever, but now in a more mature way than Blaine was used to.

'Cooper.' Blaine whispered, his throat dry and croaky.

'I'm here Blaine, its ok, we found you this time, we've got them. And I'm not going to let them take you away again I promise.' He leaned closer to the bed, looking Blaine in the eyes. 'It's over now Blaine, you're safe.'

Cooper's words spun around in his head. What he said and his brother's aging confirmed to Blaine that it hadn't been all a dream. He had been frozen and hidden for thirty six years, his father had betrayed him and he had woken in a strange new world.

But, strangely, he didn't feel upset or troubled by the realisation. He felt relieved. A great weight lifted itself from his chest. He knew he should be angry, he should be screaming and lashing out at the people who had done this but all he could think of was that it hadn't all been a dream.

And that meant Kurt was real.

_**XxXxXxX**_

Kurt was dreaming.

He had fallen asleep while comforting Blaine, the pair of them curling up together in Kurt's bed. He had never let himself be that close to someone so early but it had felt so right that Kurt found it difficult to care.

He had drifted off to the sounds of Blaine's gentle breathing and feeling his heartbeat as he laid his head on Blaine's chest.

Everything had seemed blank to him after that, he couldn't remember dreaming for a while and he had felt strange. But soon enough the strangeness had melted away and he began to dream.

He dreamt he was back in the lab. The place was so familiar to him now he had been working there at the weekends for a while. The machines and people who had once felt so cold and alien to him were now almost a second home.

The lab went about its daily business, everyone bustling around with things to do, but Kurt was just standing there, watching them work. It felt like hours until Wes came out of his office and beckoned Kurt over to him.

Wes told Kurt that they had made a discovery while expanding one of the labs and he was taking him to go and look. Kurt followed the young doctor to the unused lab, currently draped in large sheets of translucent plastic, protecting the room from the dust and debris of the construction work.

They walked for what seemed like miles, pushing sheet after sheet of ghostly white plastic out of the way in the deserted lab until they reached the end; a brick wall with a gaping hole in it.

Wes kept a few feet back, gesturing that Kurt should go on. Kurt took a deep breath and walked over to the hole, peering in to the deep blackness.

Kurt knew this was a dream; this wasn't how finding out about the frozen people had really gone. He never saw the lab where they were found and it was a few days after their discovery before he even got to see any of them.

But the dream felt so real, he could smell the brick dust in the air and was shivering in the chill of the empty lab.

He stepped closer to the hole, ready to step in and see what was inside. He turned to glance at Wes one last time, but Wes was gone.

The blackness swallowed Kurt up as he stepped into it and he couldn't see or hear anything. He stepped forward tentatively, taking another step when he couldn't feel anything in front of him. He kept walking until a dim light dawned ahead of him.

He walked towards the light, feeling grass beneath his feet as the stifling darkness melted away.

Kurt looked around, seeing trees appear from the swirling mist that was beginning to surround him.

Up ahead he could see a shape in the grey mist. It stood in a clearing, all alone in the middle of the trees. He hurried over to it, knowing that this was what he had come here for.

It was a tall cylindrical container, half metal, half glass. Through the frost covered glass Kurt could see a young man, his pallor a greyish blue with his eyes closed as if he were sleeping.

Kurt reached out to touch the glass, wanting to reach inside the container and caress the man's cheek. But as he reached out the container moved away. As he stepped forward it moved further out of his reach. Again and again he tried but he couldn't touch it.

He felt like stamping his feet in frustration, he wanted to hurl himself at the container and prise the man free from it, not wanting him to slip away from his grasp if he could help it.

He reached out one last time but before it could move again he hear someone call his name.

His eyes blinked open, squinting in the sudden light. The ethereal feeling of the dream slipped away again, but the image of the young man behind the glass stayed with him. Now that he was awake he recognized the face he had longed to caress.

_Blaine._

'Hey buddy.' A voice to his left said softly. Kurt turned his head to see his father sitting beside his bed. Carole and Finn stood just behind him and all three were smiling down at him.

Kurt frowned. He had just seen them all off at the airport, why had they come back so soon? And where was Blaine, they had just fallen asleep together; he should still be there with him.

He looked around the room in confusion. This wasn't his bedroom; this wasn't even the hospital room he had been in the day before. This was an entirely different room, one very unfamiliar to him.

'Where am I?' He asked Burt.

'You're safe now Kurt, I promise.' Burt replied.

_**XxXxXxX**_

'It just doesn't feel like four months.' Kurt said, taking another bite of the pudding from the meal the nurse had bought in to him earlier.

'Well it'll be Christmas next month, you figure it out.' Finn teased. It was the fourth time in under an hour that Kurt had made that remark.

'I know, but I don't feel different. I mean, my shoulder hasn't healed one bit.' Kurt said, placing his spoon back down on the tray and moving it to one side. 'And I know, cryogenics means being kept in a frozen state and nothing changes, I've seen that in the lab, I just always thought I would _feel _something.' He shrugged, wincing as the movement pulled at his shoulder.

He wondered if this was how Blaine felt, if he felt as though he was in exactly the same place, but everything around him had moved on. He had only been frozen for four months and he was unsettled, losing thirty six years suddenly seemed incomprehensible.

'It certainly felt a hell of a lot longer than four months to me.' Burt said from his place at the side of Kurt's bed.

Kurt felt guilt flash through him again. He could see the tiredness etched on every one of his dad's features and could only imagine what his family must have been going through after he had been taken.

Burt had filled Kurt in on everything that had been happening over the last few months, from the chilling phone call from Cooper to the meeting with Wes's father and the resulting investigation by the government officials he was in contact with. Kurt had learned the lengths that Burt and Cooper had gone through to find them and get them home safely.

For months Burt must have feared the worst and Kurt felt terrible at inflicting that upon him. He had never wanted to impose this upon his family.

'I'm sorry Dad.' Kurt whispered.

'I know kid, I'm not mad. It just scares me to think that I could lose you. I had no idea what had happened to you, but I sure as hell wasn't going to let that stop me. Above all, it wasn't your fault.'

Kurt smiled at his dad. He knew most parents would go to the ends of the earth for their children but Burt always seemed to go the extra mile. Kurt felt he was truly the world's greatest dad. He just hoped that Burt knew how much he appreciated it.

_**XxXxXxX**_

Blaine stood on the rooftop, watching the lights of Manhattan sparkle from across the river. He shivered in the chilled wind, wearing only the thin cotton pyjamas he had woken up in.

It was past midnight but Blaine didn't feel tired. He felt that he had been sleeping more than enough lately.

Cooper had stayed with him throughout the whole day, talking, explaining, comforting. By the time Cooper was yawning and mentioning a bed the nurses had set up for him Blaine knew everything that had been going on.

He had thought that the whole thing had ended after Jack had fallen to his death. He thought that everything would be over and he wouldn't have to worry about looking over his shoulder for any other threats.

But he couldn't have known that Peter O'Ryan had put plans in place for Blaine in case he was ever caught. He had people employed in Meditech who were in charge of making sure the frozen people were never found.

When Meditech had been taken over the employees had to work fast to get them removed. But finding a secret hiding place that could store cryogenic equipment wasn't easy and they had taken too long. By the time the new lab outside of the city was up and running construction had already started on the old one.

But that hadn't stopped them. They were still willing to carry out their side of the plan, whatever it took. They had kidnapped Blaine, bringing Kurt along for good measure, and set him up in the replacement lab.

Cooper had also explained everything he and Burt had done to find them. He briefly wondered if his brother was exaggerating the pair of them storming the lab and finding Blaine and Kurt. He had always had a flair for the dramatics after all.

A new investigation had been launched, going deeper than the one before and all of the conspirators had been flushed out and taken away. Blaine had been reassured that now it was really and truly over.

Blaine felt a large weight had been lifted from his chest after learning that. He felt that he could try and put the whole situation behind him and try to make a new life for himself.

But that was where a tightness in his chest closed in again. He wanted to make a new life with Kurt, but after placing him through such awful circumstances he couldn't imagine that Kurt would want anything to do with him anymore.

He sighed heavily, wondering if he would even get to see Kurt again.

'Hey.'

Blaine spun around, hope flaring in his chest as he saw Kurt standing by the door that led to the hospital roof. He looked cold, also dressed in only the hospital issued pyjamas, his arms wrapped tightly around his chest.

'Kurt.' Blaine whispered, wanting to rush over to the young man, to kiss him and never let him go again. But he didn't dare, he didn't know what Kurt wanted.

'It's cold out here.' Kurt remarked, walking over to him and looking out to the city across the river.

'Cooper said it'll be Christmas soon. We've been frozen for four months.' Blaine said.

'I suppose four months feels like nothing after thirty six years.'

'Not really.'

Silence fell over them as they stared at the bright lights.

Blaine licked his lips, ready to speak. He had gone through so much in such a short space of time, his emotions were all over the place and he had no idea what his future held for him now. He had learned to be grateful that he had a future and that he really shouldn't leave anything to chance anymore.

'Kurt, I have no idea if you even want to see me again after this, after all I've put you through, but I want you to know; I'm crazy about you. I've never felt like this about anyone and I don't want to lose you.' He took Kurt's hands in his own, looking into Kurt's eyes and pleading with him to believe what he was saying.

'You're not going to lose me Blaine.' Kurt smiled. 'I don't blame you for any of this. It's not your fault.'

Blaine closed his eyes, resting his forehead against Kurt's and feeling as though he could almost cry with relief. He knew it was early days and they hardly knew each other, but all they needed was the chance to be together.

'Blaine.' Kurt whispered, sliding his lips briefly against Blaine's. 'It's cold up here and I think I saw a lot of empty beds on the top floor.'

Blaine grinned, grasping Kurt's hand tighter and leading him over to the door. He didn't want to waste another second.

_**Aaand I can't post the smut part on so it'll end here! Thank you for reading, one more part to go! Follow me on Tumblr, search 'agent-girlsname'.**_


	12. Chapter 12

Blaine stood by the railings on the rooftop patio, keeping a firm grip on the sturdy concrete post as he looked out over the cityscape. The party at the Motta's penthouse apartment carried on behind him, oblivious to the man watching the city.

Tall buildings rose out of the horizon, their lights twinkling in the night sky and laying out a scene of endless possibilities for Blaine. In each little dot of light there would be someone in there who had achieved a dream, however big or small, and it gave Blaine hope for his future.

The late spring air was warm around him; the building shielding him from the wind that whipped around building's as high as the one he was standing on in the city, but still Blaine shivered.

He was standing in the same spot on the rooftop patio where he had almost fallen to his death months earlier. The railing had been mended, fitted securely against the concrete posts, and readorned with fairy lights to make the place look more festive.

A few feet to his right were the slabs of concrete that had once been stained with Kurt's blood. Although they were now scrubbed clean Blaine felt as though the bright red stain was seared into his memory forever.

He had come close that night to losing the one person in his life that had ever made him feel accepted, who had made him feel that he was worth something, and Blaine was determined never to let anyone or anything come between him and Kurt again. The conspiracy against Blaine and all the other people had been fully uncovered by the government and Blaine felt safe finally.

He and Kurt had been dating for six months now, ever since the cold night in November when they had talked on the hospital rooftop. Determined not to let anything else stand in the way of the life he wanted Blaine had asked Kurt out. He had been worried that despite, or even because of, everything they had gone through Kurt might not want him, regardless of what Kurt had said as they made love in the hospital bed.

But he needn't have worried, Kurt seemed just as determined for them to be together as Blaine was and since that night the two of them had been inseparable.

Kurt had helped him adjust to the new time, getting him up to date with technology, current events and fashion. He had taken Blaine to bed and slowly showed him, through many nights of lust and passion, just how good sex could be and that Blaine didn't have to feel used or wrong ever again. It had been one of those nights, lying naked and exhausted next to each other in tangled sheets that they had whispered their first 'I love you's' to each other.

They had even tracked down Blaine's old friends, visiting the ones he had been closest to and giving them some closure on what had happened to their friend.

Blaine had learned that a few of them had gotten married and had kids; one had fallen into a life of drugs and drink but had picked himself up and made what he could of a life for himself. One had become a fairly successful writer and one had lost his life in an attack that had wiped the New York skyline of its iconic outline and was only ever referenced by a date and an air of sadness. Blaine remembered when those buildings had been the tallest in the world, towering majestically over the city when he first arrived.

His parents moved back abroad, his father ashamed at what he put his son through and his mother, due to her condition, unaware that anything had changed and Blaine had moved in with his brother to be closer to his family. He had been welcomed with open arms by all of them, finally getting the accepting family he had always wanted and finding he had a lot in common with Cooper's son Blaine.

Blaine shivered once more as he stared out over the city, jumping slightly as a pair of arms wrapped themselves tightly around his waist. Warm breath tickled over his ear as Kurt rested his head on Blaine's shoulder.

'You're making me worried, standing so close to the edge like this.' Kurt murmured.

'It's ok; Mr. Motta assured me himself that the railings are safe.' Blaine grinned back.

'I'm sure they are, but why are you over here.' There was a touch of concern to Kurt's voice.

'Just thinking. I came so close to losing everything that night, it reminds me of how lucky I really am, despite everything.'

'What do you mean?' Kurt frowned.

'I got frozen for thirty six years Kurt. I left behind my friends and family and everything I had ever known. It should be the worst thing that has ever happened to me. But out of all of it, I've got you. I'm in a time where my sexuality is more accepted and I can marry the man I love. It showed me the man my father really is and it's made me more sure of who I am and what I want to be. It just makes me think that it wasn't the worst thing that could have possibly happened to me.'

'Are you happy now?' Kurt asked, entwining his finger's with Blaine's.

Blaine smiled placing their clasped hands over his heart, his voice breaking and his eyes shining with emotion. 'Like I said, I've got you. I'm the happiest man in the world.'

Kurt grinned and hugged Blaine tightly for a few moments before pulling back, aware that Blaine still wasn't completely comfortable with the public displays of their relationship just yet. It would take time to adjust to the future's mentality towards homosexuality.

Blaine was about to pull him back in, not caring what anyone at the party thought when the look on Kurt's face stopped him. His eyes were wide and unblinking and he looked so terrified that for a moment Blaine thought the ghost of Jack O'Ryan had risen to haunt the rooftop where he had fallen to his death.

Blaine turned to look at where Kurt was staring but there was no ghost spectre floating about, just a man staring at them through the crowds of people gathered on the patio.

'Who is that guy?' Blaine frowned, wondering why he was staring at them and why he was making Kurt so scared.

'That's Kieran.' Kurt said, the words sticking in his throat.

Kieran, Blaine rolled the word around in his mind for a few moments, trying to remember the name and why he was making Kurt look so worried.

'As in, your ex-boyfriend Kieran, the one who cheated on you and you gave me his guitar?'

'That's him.' Kurt nodded. 'Oh why is he here? He would know I'd be here, he's only come to torment me.'

'Well I'm not going to let him.' Blaine said, rubbing a hand soothingly down Kurt's back.

'Oh crap he's coming over; I do not want to see him.' Kurt groaned, turning away from the advancing man and leaning against the railing.

'Kurt, so nice to see you again.' Kieran said as he approached the couple, pointedly ignoring Blaine's presence.

'Kieran, can't say I feel the same about you.' Kurt replied icily.

'I believe you still owe me a guitar.' Kieran smirked, leaning in against Kurt, trapping him against the railing.

'Oh, I threw that piece of junk in the East River.' Kurt shrugged. That wasn't entirely true, Kurt had wanted to, after Blaine had bought himself a new guitar, but in the end they had given it away to a charity collecting musical instruments for disadvantaged kids.

'Well now that wasn't very nice was it?' Kieran said leaning in close, pressing his front against Kurt despite Kurt's protests.

'No more than you deserve.'

'Oh really.' Kieran made to grab Kurt's wrist but Blaine pushed him away.

'I think you need to get off my boyfriend.' Blaine growled, standing in between Kieran and Kurt. Kieran was taller than him, but Blaine reckoned he could take him in a fight. He really hoped it wouldn't come to that, he had been asked to perform at the party by Mr. Motta and didn't want to risk injuring his hand, after all, there was a lot of potential riding on this performance. But he would risk it to protect Kurt from this creep.

'Save yourself the bother, dude, you'd think someone who dresses the way he does would be better in bed-'

Blaine pressed both hands into Kieran's chest, shoving the man so hard that he stumbled backwards.

'Maybe if you hadn't been so busy cheating on him you'd have noticed what a wonderful person Kurt is. He's my boyfriend and if you have anything to say to him you'll have to go through me!'

The party goers on the patio all paused in their conversations to watch the altercation, excited whispers running through the crowd.

'Whatever dude, he's not even worth it.' Kieran sneered, walking away from the couple. The guests around them looked away, returning to their conversations as if nothing had happened.

Sugar ran up to them before they were able to say anything to each other.

'Oh Kurt, I'm so sorry, I didn't know he'd come, I didn't invite him!' She apologised profusely.

Kurt shook his head. 'It's alright Sugar; he only came to make trouble.'

'He's just jealous you found such a handsome replacement for him.' She grinned, patting Blaine on the shoulder, laughing as Blaine blushed.

'Blaine is worth a million of him Sugar. And don't worry; I don't blame you for him coming.'

'Good, I'm glad.' She turned to Blaine, bouncing on the spot excitedly. 'Daddy said they're ready for you now!' She said before walking away.

Blaine felt his stomach clench a little in nervous excitement. He had been looking forward to this performance for weeks. He felt Kurt wrap his arms around his neck, pressing a kiss against his cheek.

'Thank you.' Kurt whispered.

'For what?'

'For saying those things to Kieran.'

'I meant them you know. If he thinks you're boring he's an idiot. You're the best thing that's ever happened to me.'

'And you called me your boyfriend; I think that's the first time you've ever done that to someone you don't know. You're getting braver.' Kurt smiled.

'Brave enough to do this.' Blaine replied, pressing his lips against Kurt's and kissing him deeply, not caring who could see them. It was a little unnerving to be doing this so publicly, but Blaine was feeling brave and he wanted to show the world that they were together.

'Oh wow.' Kurt whispered as they broke apart. 'Do you think you can push your performance back a half hour? I think I saw an empty bedroom down the hall.'

Blaine was tempted, especially when Kurt pressed a kiss against his neck, but he could see Mr. Motta standing by the microphone and speakers that had been set up on the patio.

'Later, definitely. I think they're waiting for me.' Blaine said, nodding over to the performance area.

'So they are, go show them what you've got, they're going to love you.'

Blaine kissed Kurt once more before leaving him and walking over to the performance area, picking up his guitar and sitting down on the stool in front of the microphone.

The partygoers began to gather around him, Kurt making sure that he was standing at the front, their conversations dying down to a gentle murmur as they waited for Blaine to begin.

_This is it_, Blaine thought, _this is the moment you came to New York for_.

Mr. Motta had arranged this whole performance at his 'welcome home' party as a special thank you to both Kurt and Blaine. When he had returned Kurt had told him about the 'robbery' they had been caught up in and Mr. Motta had assumed it was entirely because of them that nothing had been stolen. He was so grateful that once he learned of Blaine's dreams to be a singer he invited a friend of his who worked in the music business to come and watch the performance.

It wasn't the first time Blaine had performed in public over the last six months; Kurt had taken him everywhere, encouraging him to sing his own songs and believe in his talent. They had visited coffee shops, piano bars and Central park dozens of times, but this was the first time Blaine was playing for someone who could possibly give him a chance at making it.

He set his fingers to the chords for his first song, the words forming in his mind easily. He was starting off with the latest song he had written, a song about a man who felt lost and lonely in a confusing world, a man who found love and hope at the same time, in the same person.

He looked up, his eyes catching Kurt's as he grinned encouragingly to Blaine, feeling his heart clench at the love positively gleaming from Kurt's eyes. He knew he could do this, he could make it.

Blaine strummed the chords, opened his mouth and began to sing.

_**A huge massive thank you to everyone for reading and all your lovely comments, it has made writing this a lot of fun and I really hope you enjoyed it!**_

_**And a special thank you to my lovely beta Lola_mejor for all your help on this, you're truly invaluable to me as a beta ;) **_

_**More fics and drabbles are posted on my Tumblr journal, link is in my profile or just search agent-girlsname. **_


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